Heart of Steel
by Tensei-Taichou
Summary: Starting during the Third Shinobi War, Suchiru must abandon her home and everything she knew as she is forced into another village for the sake of preserving her life and kekkei genkai, Iron Sand. OC insert, reborn in narutoverse. Shisui/oc, cause there is a big lack of them First chapter is short, sort of like a prologue, but they get longer. Rating may change to M in the future.
1. Chapter 1

There it was.

My death coming in hot. The wall of water I was diving into didn't really seem appetizing. The car I was in splashed into the water, taking a few seconds to start sinking. I started panicking as it sunk farther towards the bottom of the Northumberland Strait. I tried prying my door open, but the pressure against it was too much. I would have to let my car fill up in order to try that again. So I opened the window a crack, the water cascading in and soaking me entirely. It filled passed my knees, around my waist and up to my neck.

I took a deep breath before all the air was forced out and pushed the door open. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I pushed myself off of the roof trying to get a bit of extra speed to reach the surface. I tried and tried and pushed myself so hard, but I was running out of breath. I gasped, inhaling water and choking on it, only to breathe in more. I stopped trying to get to the top, not sure of what to do anymore, other than struggle with getting the water out. Eventually I let the darkness overcome me, lack of oxygen knocking me out.

That was really stupid.

I eventually came to consciousness, but everything was dark. It felt as though I was floating, floating in a warm liquid. Did I wake up, still in the water? Then there was pressure from every side. Cue muffled screaming. I struggled to push back, but I only felt myself move ahead. Maybe down? I couldn't tell. Then cool air wrapped itself around me and I cringed against it. I curled up and shivered, then noticed how small I was. I opened my eyes to get a better look, and my god, was I surprised. I was a tiny child.

I was whisked away to a small bath, where I was washed off of the blood and mucus that covered me. The doctor then covered me in a small yellow blanket and walked me over to the bed where I had just been birthed. He handed me to a frail woman with long brown hair and amber eyes, and she smiled at me. A small laugh escaped my tiny lips before I heard a door open and a man's voice.

"Is everything alright now?" it asked, concern and nervousness laced in his tone. The woman holding me, my new mother I guess, nodded in his direction, with a small smile. I heard steps then myself being held out. The man lifted me into his arms and I saw him. I stared wide eyed at him, not saying anything. The iconic hairstyle from a graphic novel, and the robes to match his role, staring me right in the face.

The Third Kazekage.

His eyebrows lifted in confusion, and he looked to the woman who sat on the bed, and she giggled a bit. "I don't think she likes me…" The woman sighed, bringing her hand to wipe the sweat from her brow. "She will grow to like you, like I had to." His yellow eyes moved back to meet mine. I didn't want him to think his own child hated him, so I tugged on his side bangs and brought his head down closer to my face. I held both of his cheeks, pushing in and making him do the fish lips, making me laugh. Never in my lives had I thought I could make the strongest Kazekage in existence make a face like that.

"What did you say about her not liking you?" mother asked him, one eyebrow raised. He laughed, looking down at me happily. "Well, Suchiru, welcome to the family."

Three years passed. During that three years, I found out that my name quite literally meant steel, which I felt a little abnormal for a girls name. Mother just told me that father had the iron sand, and wanted to relate my name to it. I rolled my eyes at her, making her laugh. Father also started teaching me about chakra wielding and my kekkei genkai, magnet release. He realized I inherited it when the first time I held a metal spoon, it dissolved in my tiny hand, and the lessons for controlling that ensued. He also taught me the history of the village, given that he thought I was more mature for my age instead of a twenty-three year old in an infant's body.

I learned how to write in kanji, and speak Japanese, which was a lot harder than I thought. Eventually I got the hang of it, though I still had some trouble writing. My mother would take me out every morning for a walk around the village, where I often saw characters that I knew from the series, like Granny Chiyo, and Rasa, the next Kazekage, but minus the children, though Karura was pregnant with Temari I assumed, at this point.

There was one day, though, that I remember clearly. It was just after my second birthday. I was in father's office, playing with a couple toys next to his desk while he worked, when I heard the door open quietly. Then one of my toy balls started floating. I grinned at it, trying to catch it as it flew up and down and around the room. I heard my father laughing quietly as he watched me. Eventually I caught it, and look to the person at the door, fully expecting Granny Chiyo to be there.

Instead, a familiar redhead stood in the frame. I gasped and hid behind my father, only peeking out to meet the brown gaze of Sasori. It was odd, seeing him still human. Father laughed, ruffling my hair with his hand. Sasori kneeled down, attempting to be level with me. He used his chakra strings, making them much thicker than when he did while moving my ball, and attached them to the ball again. He held the ball out in front of me, but just far enough away that I needed to move out from behind father to get it.

"Come on, Suchiru, go ahead." father said at my hesitation. "It's alright, you can trust him." _'Oh how wrong you are though, daddy dearest.'_ I exhaled through my nose, and stepped out from behind him, trying not to be too suspicious of the puppeteer. Sasori smiled gently at me, making himself seem so innocent. It reminded me that at this point he was still fathers subordinate, not an evil killer from an evil organization.

I walked out, going to grab the ball, but only to have it move just out of my reach. I grunted in frustration and moved forward, as fast as my little legs could carry me, trying to grab it again. I missed again, the ball moving backwards again. I moved again, stomping my feet, making it known I was frustrated, and I heard the two men laugh. I pushed my dark teal hair out of my face and behind my ears, determined to get my ball back from the man. I looked up to him, noticing his smirk. _'Jeez, I didn't know Sasori liked to pick on little kids.'_ I thought to myself. I then mirrored the look and watched his expression change to confusion.

I waddled, full tilt towards him, jumping at him and pushing him backwards. I stood on his chest, raising my arms in victory as father laughed and clapped his hands in applause. "Well Sasori, if my two year old daughter can take you down, maybe I need new students." I jumped off him as his chuckling sent me off balance. "I was caught by surprise." He simply stated. I crossed my arms and smirked at him, and he ruffled my hair, making it even more tousled than it already was.

I never thought that I would ever meet the puppeteer, let alone 'beat' him. At the current moment in time, I was playing with some rubber ninja tools, tossing them around pretending to be my father. Hitting targets around the room, spinning and jumping around, making my brown dress swirl around me.

Then all of a sudden, the door bursts open in my playroom making me jump, the elders and my mother running in. My mother grabbed me, hauling me up into her arms and running back out into the hallway. I tried to look around, to see what was going on, but was ushered down by mothers' hand, holding my face into her chest. I tried to think what could have been happening during the time of the Third Kazekage. The Third Shinobi War was ongoing of course, that's why I barely saw father lately.

' _Oh my god, he's gone.'_ I came to the realization that this was the day that Sasori kidnapped father, and was going to turn him into a puppet. I lifted my head, hitting mother's chest. "Where's Otousan?!" I demanded from her. She looked down at me, tears running down her face, eyes wide, trying to figure out how I knew.

"We don't know, Suchiru." she told me softly through her tears. I felt the moistness of tears running down my own face, unable to hold them in. I put my head down, sobbing to myself quietly as mother rubbed my back in attempt to sooth me. We didn't stop running, and even some of the anbu had joined us, protecting us all the way to the village entrance. We stopped there, waiting for something.

I heard the quiet chatter, my mother asking what we were going to do and where we were going to go. I picked up on some words that sounded familiar. _Konoha_ , _hiring someone_ , _we need to get to the land of rivers, they'll meet us there._ I looked to my mother, and she had a panicked look on her face.

"Okaasan, where are we going?" She hugged me closer before answering. "Konoha. At this point in the war we aren't fighting them, so we count them as allies." I nodded in understanding. We waited for a wagon, one that reminded me of a pilgrim's wagon. We piled ourselves in, getting situated and we started to move almost immediately.

The trip was tiring and boring. We didn't have any time to grab things before we left, except for extra clothes, so I was stuck with nothing to play with or do. Mother tried her best thought, telling me stories of gallant heroes, (some of which I'm sure were about father) and running over theories that I would need to know for the academy, which I was to start earlier than most because I was so 'smart'.

When we finally reached the border of the Land of Rivers, we stopped. Mother peeked out, speaking and nodding to someone, before getting out. I got up from where I was sitting, moving towards the opening of the wagon. I lifted the flap to see mother talking with someone who was just around the corner from where I could see. Hoisting myself up and over the gate, I dropped down to the ground with a thump.

I rounded the corner, my heart stopping as soon as I saw the man mother was talking to. I wasn't sure how to act, considering one of my favourite characters was standing in front of me. Mother looked down to see me, and put her hand on my head. "This is the one we are paying you to protect." I looked up at her curiously, wondering how much she actually had to pay him.

I grinned up at him, only to get a scowl in return. "What's your name, mister?" I asked as innocently as I could. He continued his glare before answering.

"Kakuzu." My grin got bigger. It was as if the glare was permanently stuck on his face, as it hadn't faltered once. He wasn't wearing the classic Akatsuki cloak either, just what he wore underneath it. "We need to get moving." was the next thing he said, and my mother nodded. She guided me back to the carriage, lifting me back into it before stepping back.

"Come on, Okaasan, or he'll leave without you!" I said jokingly, even though some part of me wouldn't even doubt its accuracy. But instead of climbing in, she just smiled sadly, and kissed my forehead. "I can't go with you, Suchiru." My mood dropped as soon as that left her mouth. "Why not?" I asked her, tears forming in my eyes.

"Because, there are people following us. We need to drive them off, so they don't get you." I looked down sadly, letting the tears flow out. "Oh…" She lifted my head, smiling at me. "Don't worry though, we'll see each other soon, ok?" I smiled back, nodding my head. I could hear the old man tapping his foot impatiently, waiting for us to finish up.

"Okay Okaasan, on three!" I said to her. "One," she started off. "Two!" I shouted as I saluted to her, and she mirrored me back, the two of us laughing. The carriage started up again, almost making me fall out, but I held on tight.

I waved at mother until I couldn't see her and the other sand shinobi, then crawled to the side of the wagon and lifted the cover so I could Kakuzu as he walked beside it. I put my chin in my hands and looked at him. "So you're a shinobi, right?" He hummed a yes. "Where are you from?" I asked, and waited for him to answer. It took him a bit of time, as he was trying to keep his temper down. I knew I shouldn't prod him too much, but I couldn't help it much either.

"Takigakure." he said eventually. I could hear the annoyance in his voice already, and I snickered to myself silently. I moved back into the carriage and moved to the front where I could see the long road ahead of us. "How long is it going to take us to get there?" I yelled out.

"Three days." came the simple answer. I sighed to myself, knowing that I wouldn't get much else from him. I moved the blankets that we had all into one corner and dropped into them, trying to get some sleep. I watched the road disappear behind us through the flaps of the back, expecting something interesting to pop up, but nothing ever did.

I was jolted awake to metal clangs and screeches. I lifted the cover a tiny bit against my better judgement and gasped at the sight. The old man covered in blood, whether it was his or not, I couldn't tell. He held an Iwagakure shinobi by his throat, choking the life out of him. I felt someone grab the back of my dress, pulling me out of the carriage from the other side.

"Kakuzu!" I screamed for him, hoping he heard my small voice. I heard him grunt from the other side before a body dropped and he came sailing over the wagon. I struggled against my captor only to get a kunai to the throat. I ceased immediately, trying to be as still as possible. I felt the tears start, and tried to blink them away. Then I got an idea. I knew Kakuzu was fairly observant, so I hoped this work.

"K-Kakuzu," I said, getting his attention. The grip on me tightened. "On t-three." I saw a knowing look cross his face for a second. "One," he said lowly. "Two." I said before the kunai at my throat flung out of man's hand, making him drop me. Kakuzu grabbed the kunai that flew beside his face and jumped over me and at the man, stabbing him in the chest.

The Iwa man stopped moving, and I stood behind my protector just in case. Everything was still for a moment before Kakuzu decided to stand up. He turned to me, wiping the dirt and blood off of him. "Grab whatever you can carry from that thing." He said, pointing towards the carriage. I nodded quickly and jumped into it, grabbing a bag and stuffing some clothes and a blanket into it.

When I jumped out, he waited for me to join him at his side. "Don't move." He told me, before bringing his hands up to make a familiar hand signs. " Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu." I stepped back even further, watching a fireball engulf the wagon. My eyes widened in amazement, the heat radiating off of the attack.

It cut off, and the wagon burned. He turned to me, taking my bag and shouldering it. "It will be faster if I carry you." I nodded excitedly, practically jumping into his arms. He settled me on his waist, one arm supporting me as the other helped guide him through the trees that surrounded us. I held on tightly, gripping at his shirt in the front, and the backpack in the back, unsure if it was alright to hold onto the masks.

This was going to be a long trip.

So I wanted to try my hand at one of these 'reborn' stories. Also, if you want to know the exact color of Suchiru's hair, since it's kinda hard to describe, here is the color code: 3f5f6b. And her eyes are the same shade of yellow as the third kazekage's.


	2. Chapter 2

It reach sundown before Kakuzu decided to make camp for the night. Fires were not allowed, since we were in the middle of a war zone, so I tried to make warmth in the singular blanket I brought. We had no rations either, me being stupid brought clothes instead of food. He didn't seem to mind though.

"How did that kunai get out of his hand?" Kakuzu asked, the first time he spoke since we left the wagon. I jumped at the sudden voice, and then looked up to him. "It's part of my kekkei genkai. Did they not tell you?" he shook his head no, and I sighed. What kind of people don't tell the protector what he's protecting?

"First off, I'm the Third Kazekage's daughter." His eyebrows raised in surprise. "Okay, they _really_ didn't tell you anything. So since I'm his daughter, I inherited his magnet release. I can use my chakra to create magnetic forces, like repelling and attracting different types of metal." He listened intently, nodded when necessary.

"Give me a kunai, please." I asked, and he passed me one. "I can also do this," the weapon dissolved in my hand, leaving a fine dust settled in my palm. "Of course, I'm nowhere near as good enough as Otousan or even genin level, but I'm trying!" I told him, morphing the kunai back into its original state, just a little sloppier.

"Hmph." came from him as he crossed his arms. "You're pathetic." He swiped the kunai back, shoving it in his pouch. My mood completely dropped, and I looked at the ground. "Oh." He closed his eyes, leaning back against the tree he propped himself against. I turned my back to him, grabbing my bag and using it as a pillow as I wrapped myself tighter in my blanket. This was going great.

A sharp pain erupted in my side. I opened my eyes, trying to look around, but it was still dark. "Get up, brat." I heard the old man say to me, removing his foot from my side. I groaned rubbing my side and unwrapped myself from my cocoon of heat. "Get your things together." I didn't acknowledge him, but I did as told. I placed my blanket back into my bag, picking it up signalling I was ready to go.

"No, put that down." He demanded. I did so, and my caution flared up, unsure of what he was going to do. He walked around me, looking me over. "Show me your fighting stance." I blanked. I looked up at him, one eyebrow raised. "What." I said, not even as a question.

"Hurry up, brat, we don't have long." he spoke again, more harshly than before. A small 'eep' escaped my lips before getting into position with my left hand out in front of me for blocking and my right closer to give it more power for punches. My left leg was out in front of my right, ready to move. He stood in front of me, looking over my stance with one hand on his hip and the other on his chin, eyes squinting and scrutinizing.

He huffed, moving to help me into a proper position, moving my left arm out farther, while moving my right closer. "Bend your knees more." I did as told, and he nodded before moving my right leg a bit farther behind me. "Now punch." My right hand came forward, barely making any sound before I retracted it again.

"No." he mumbled to himself before bringing my fists closer to my head, mirroring a boxing stance. "Try again." I tried once more, having a bit more power behind it. He nodded, and then placed me in front of a tree. Looking up to him sceptically, I sighed when he motioned for me to hit it. I moved back into position, then punched forward.

"Oh ouch!" I whined as the bark dug into my skin slightly. "Why do I have to punch a tree?" He growled slightly before answering. "Because there is nothing else to punch." I smirked at Kakuzu, moving towards him. "I could always punch you." He glared at me, holding me out at arm's length while I swung at the open air in front of him.

He pushed me away, making me land on my butt. I rubbed my forehead, and glared back at him. Kakuzu got down on one knee, hands held up in front of him. "Oh, surrendering are we?" I asked him jokingly. He rolled his eyes, waiting for me to clue in. When I finally did, I could tell he was getting more and more impatient. "Hurry up."

I walked forward, getting back into my stance and punched one of his hands. He nodded, then held up two fingers. I punched twice, first with the right then with the left. As my left hand went for his, he swatted the side of my head with his right. "Hey!" I shouted, pouting at him. "Learn to move quicker." was his response.

This went on until the sun came up, and until I was sore from all the swatting I got. I huffed again as I punched, earning another smack. I growled slightly, punching again, but ducking underneath it, punching his arm forward towards himself. It didn't do much, but it was enough time to get my footing underneath myself and attempt to rugby tackle him. I grabbed around his waist, pushing with all my might while only digging my shoes into the ground further. I wasn't moving him one inch, either.

I heard him sigh, getting up with me still attached to him like an unwanted tumour. When he bent over to get my bag, I lost my grip, tumbling to the ground. "Get up, we are leaving." I got up immediately and saluted. He only rolled his eyes before picking me up, setting me on his hip again.

He jumped back into the trees, making our way towards Konoha. _'Now that I think of it, how is he going to get anywhere near that village without getting attacked?'_ I looked up at him, and he glanced down to me at the movement. "What?" I squinted at him, trying to figure it out, finally settling on the conclusion that the Akatsuki wasn't that well known yet.

"Stop looking at me like that." he said harshly. "Op, sorry. I was just wondering how you were going to get me into the village." He lifted an eyebrow at me. "Well," I started, trying to save myself. "You are a missing nin, are you not?" I asked, motioning to his headband. "Tch, they know I'm coming." I nodded and moved my head to see in front of us. It was all green. Nothing but the trees and grass below us.

It was silent for the rest of the way as we passed into the Land of Fire by noon. For the Third Shinobi war it was pretty tame on this side of the front lines, given that we hadn't run into anybody, including camps, villages or checkpoints. I assumed Kakuzu knew where they were and avoided them, but it still bothered me that we weren't being pursued. Not that I wanted it, it was just weird.

When we stopped again, it was at a river. Kakuzu let me down, going to the tree line, breaking branches off. I caught on to what he was doing, so I grabbed some stones and placed them in a circle relatively close to the river. "What is that supposed to be?" He asked me when he came back, arms filled with wood. "It's for the fire! To keep it from wandering if we take our eyes away." I told him, remembering my Girl Guide training from my previous life.

He just sighed, throwing the wood down beside the pit before going back to get more. I started to arrange the wood in the log cabin style first, before moving to tipi style in the middle. I then gathered some dried up weeds and bark on the ground to put in the bottom. I had to make several trips around the area we claimed, thanks to the small body and tiny muscles I had. Kakuzu made only one trip, getting the fire mask to help him carry the larger logs he brought back.

I stared wide eyed at the puppet looking beast, walking up to it and giving it a look over. "Can I touch him?" I asked the old man, eyes filled with hope. He only glared at me, before turning away to tend to the unlit fire. I looked up at the mask, giving a big smile regardless of whether or not it could actually see me. _'To be fair, he never said no.'_ I thought to myself before pressing my two hands to its stomach, feeling the mass of threads that made it up.

"Holy cow, he's so cool!" I yelled to myself, giving the creature a hug. I jumped out of the way as it started moving towards Kakuzu, dropping the logs and retreating back into the Akatsuki member. I moved back towards the fire pit, staring into the small flames that started. "I thought we couldn't have any fires?" I asked Kakuzu. "We need something to cook food." I made an 'o' face, then back to a puzzled one.

"What are we eating?" I inquired, cringing at the river we were beside. "Fish." Totally not what I wanted to hear. I _hated_ fish with my entire being. He saw the look I was giving him before glaring again. "And you're going to eat it. I won't get paid if I bring a dead child to them." I grumbled before moving towards the river, removing my shoes and jumping in, the bottom of my calf-length leggings getting wet.

"Don't drown." he commented from his place in the middle of the river, waiting to strike at any fish that came close to him. _'What encouraging words.'_ But I stayed close to the bank, chasing the tadpoles and collecting cool looking rocks. I heard water splashing behind me, and saw Kakuzu had finished his little fishing session. I continued playing in the river, knowing that they needed to be cook so that I could barely eat any of it, because fish was _gross_.

When it was finally time to eat, I grudgingly got out of the water, bringing my shoes and set them beside me as I was handed a stick with the smallest fish on it. I hesitated before taking it, glaring at the dead fish I held, not wanting to put it anywhere near my mouth. "Eat it." I heard from across the fire, when I looked up, I could have sworn I saw an evil glint in his eyes. He had yet to touch any of his fish, and I pointed to the fish, then to him.

"I'm not going to eat it until you do." I said, not letting him one-up me. He growled, but reached up to take off his mask. I smirk at him, and he just glared at me, putting the mask down beside him. "Satisfied?" he asked me. "Heh, I wasn't curious about your face. I just wanted you to eat the fish before I do." Oh my good lord if looks could kill. He started eating, still with a menacing glare in my direction.

I smiled, satisfied with the outcome. I then turned my eyes to my own fish, still hesitant. I brought it up to smell it, cringing at it. I picked at a piece of the meat with my fingers, bringing it up slowly. "If you don't eat that now I am going to force feed you." I jumped at his words, and quickly shoved the fish in my mouth. I chewed the meat, still hating the taste of it. I saw a twitch of the corner of his mouth, and glared back at him.

"I hate you." I told him, still slowly trying to eat the fish.

"That's nice."

When we were finished eating, we cleaned up our area, putting the fire out and erasing any sign we were there. I put my shoes back on and grabbed my backpack, handing it off to Kakuzu before he picked me up and we disappeared.

We moved silently through the forest, neither of us saying anything for around two hours. I thought to myself, we must have been close to Konoha at this point. I tugged at his shirt, getting his attention. "Where are we? You know, approximately?" He took a moment to answer, thinking about our location. "That river we stopped at was about an hour away from a city named Tanzaku." I racked my brain for the location, trying to figure out where I had heard it before.

"Does it happen to be a gambling town?" I asked him, testing out to see if my theory was right. He nodded. So that was where Tsunade was hiding out during the chunin exam arc. How far was it from Konoha, though? "We are less than a day away. We should get there around sundown tomorrow." he told me, almost reading my thoughts.

We didn't stop for anything until the sun disappeared on the horizon. The night was colder than the last, and we still couldn't have a fire. I wrapped myself in my blanket again, taking my place in the space between roots under a tree. Kakuzu sat himself down under the tree next to mine, crossing his arms and closing his eyes, though I knew he wasn't asleep. I sat there, shivering; trying to close any holes I may have had in the blanket and sunk even further into the ground.

I looked to the man that sat a few feet away from me, seeing no visible movement from him. I put my brave face on as I stood up, feet padding their way over to where he sat. One eye opened, questioning my presence that close to him. "I'm cold." I stated, shivering under the thin blanket I packed. "So?" he shot back, not buying into it. I huffed, sitting down beside him, pushing my head under his arm in attempt to lift it.

' _It's amazing how I'm risking my life just to get some heat.'_ He didn't budge his arms, holding them firmly across his chest. "Kakuzu, please! I'm cold!" I begged from under his arm, my head still trying to force its way under. He sent a warning growl my way, trying to get me back off. "You won't get the money if I die of hypothermia." I told him, voice monotone. I felt him stiffen, and then finally, after a few minutes of hesitation, he undid his arms, allowing me to cuddle up as close as I could.

"...You play dirty." He said under his breath as he rested his arm around my small body. "I know. That's the point." He chuckled. "You'll do well then." I smiled brightly to myself, happy to get some form of praise. I wrapped my blanket around me again, draping some over his legs, but only covering his thighs because he was too big. I fell asleep not too long after, listening to his breathing.

When I woke up, the sun had yet to rise. I looked around, trying to see anything through the sleep in my eyes. I rubbed them, picking out the gross eye cheese (at least that's what I called it) and looked up at Kakuzu, who still had his eyes closed. I wondered if he was actually asleep, since his breathing was even and he had yet to move. I moved out from under his arm, walking out to the forest for my morning relief.

When I came back, he was up and my bag was packed. But there was also a large log set up in the middle of our small clearing. I looked up at him quizzically. "What's this for?" I asked him, not expecting the answer I got. "You're going to show me your kicks." he stated simply. My shoulders slumped and I trudged forward, not looking forward to the next two hours.

I got back into the same position as yesterday, my fists near my head, my legs appropriately set apart. I moved forward and kicked with my right foot, hitting the log with my lower shin. I winced at the slight pain, but moved past it. This went on for the next hour, until my legs had both their turns for torture and were bleeding.

"That's enough." He said suddenly, knocking me out of my concentration. I moved back away from the log, waiting for him to say something. Instead, he went around, marking x's on the trees that surrounded us. I had a slight idea where this was going, and I was not liking it.

"Here," he said, handing me a couple kunai. "Hit the targets." I nodded slightly, unsure of whether or not I would be able to. I threw the first one, only to have it sail past the trunk on its left. I heard a heavy sigh, then Kakuzu stepped in front of me, holding my hands in the proper starting position. I smiled sheepishly at him, only to receive a glare. I was starting to wonder if he had any other expressions. "You're letting go of it too late. Try again."

I took his advice into consideration, throwing the kunai at the same target, letting it go a bit earlier. It scratched the side of the tree, so I took another one out and adjusted accordingly. I hit the lower left corner of the mark, and turned to the man beside me. "I hit it!" I yelled excitingly. He jerked a bit at the loud outburst, but otherwise remained stoic. "Good. But we're not leaving until you hit them all." I whined at hearing that. "In the center." He added. Cue louder whining.

"YES!" I shouted, finally hitting the last target in the center. I mean, it only took me _two more hours_ to accomplish it, and with lots of pointers and head smacking from the old man, but I did it. "It's about time." he said, grabbing the backpack, then me. "We are going to double time it. Time is-" I sighed, cutting him off. "Time is money. Don't worry, I know the saying." I said with a slight smirk as we jumped through the trees quickly.

"Hmph. That's good. Live by that." I laughed at him. "Do you not think there is something more important than money?" "No." he answered without missing a beat. I rolled my eyes at him, not surprised by one bit.

It remained silent for a while more, which I had been getting used to, but didn't like. I racked my brain for something to talk about, but wouldn't make him question me. _'I could always ask him about his job. I mean at this point all I 'know' is that he's a missing nin.'_ I nodded to myself, getting a weird look from the man carrying me.

"So what do you do?" I asked him, trying to put as much innocence into my voice as possible. "You know, for a job?" I clarified. He stayed silent, probably trying to figure out what to say before he answered me. "I'm part of an organization." I thought about it for a moment. How far could I get him into revealing? Probably not much, but it's worth a try.

"What kinda organization? Like what do they do?" he furrowed his brows for a second, trying to figure out how to word it. "It's to make the world a better place, at least that's what the leader tells us." I nodded along, listening intently as he spoke. "So, does that mean you each have your own roles, or does everyone do the same thing?"

He glanced down to me, eyeing me before looking ahead again. "I'm the treasurer." He said. "What's that?" I asked him, playing a bit stupid. "I take care of the money that comes and goes. It includes going out and earning it, whether it be through bounties or jobs." I nodded again. I decided that was enough, and tucked my head closer to his chest, trying to avoid any stray branches that may have 'accidentally' stray too close to me.

We didn't make any stops today, as Kakuzu tried to get to Konoha before the sunset. I had teased him about training me this morning, and how if he didn't, we would have probably been there by now. The glare he gave me was enough to make me shut up for the rest of the trip. Then we came up to a path, one that I kind of recognized from the show. He set me down to walk, which I didn't mind. He still kept the backpack with him, not wanting it to slow me down.

We walked for about half an hour until we saw the gates. It was then I realized that this was the last time I would probably see him, and that alone caused me to slow my pace a little. I felt his hand on the back of my head, ushering me to move with him. We walked up to the gates, the two chunin guards coming out of the pointless hut inside the village.

Kakuzu took the bag off of his shoulders, reaching inside the front pocket to get some papers. He handed them off to the guards, and they read over it, their eyebrows raising. One whispered to the other, and he jumped off. The lone guard looked at the two of us, the odd pair. He allowed us entrance, but we had to wait for the other man to come back before we were allowed to proceed any further.

Five minutes passed before two anbu appeared in front of us. They guided us to the Hokage's office; all the while we got weird and wary looks as we passed through the village. When we reached the door to the office, one anbu knocked, and we heard a faint 'come in'. The guards opened the door, and we both walked in, me behind Kakuzu. The Hokage looked us over, old eyes only wandering to me once, before resting back to Kakuzu warily.

"You know we do not approve of the method that Sunagakure has used to get that child here, but we don't have a choice if you are the best for the job." Hiruzen stated, as the anbu took their places beside the door. The man I hid behind nodded once. "Everything went smoothly." The Hokage nodded this time, happy that there were no hitches.

"You must be wondering about your payment." Hiruzen mentioned, before waving at the anbu behind us. One produced a briefcase, handing it off to Kakuzu. I clutched his pants as the transaction went on, and as he counted the money. He nodded, confirming the money was all there. "Alright then. There will be no further need for you. The anbu will escort you back to the gates. Any resistance will be perceived as an act of war against Konoha. Neither of our sides can afford that right now."

"Of course." Kakuzu said, confirming he would be no trouble. The Hokage motioned me over, but I didn't leave Kakuzu's side. "I want to see him off." I said, stomping my foot. Hiruzen sighed, "Child, we have a few things to discuss. You don't need to." I shook my head at him. "No. I _will_ see him off." I heard the man in my grasps grumble under his breath, but he didn't protest. The Hokage sighed, waving his hand at the two guards.

When we reached the gate for the second time that day, I grabbed Kakuzu's hand before he could leave. He looked back at me, a slight glare on his face. _'Well I guess it's an improvement.'_ "Thank you. For getting me here. And the training." I said will all sincerity. He nodded to me, not saying anything. I motioned for him to come closer, and he knelt down. I wrapped my hands around his neck, giving him a hug before quickly pecking him on the cheek. I retreated quickly before he could protest, standing beside the anbu who escorted us there.

"Bye Kakuzu!" I said, waving at him wildly. Before he could turn his back, I dug into my bag and tossed one of my larger rocks from the river at him, nearly hitting his head before he caught it. "You have to give this back to me ok? But until we meet again, you hold onto it!" I yelled at him as he pocketed the small stone. He turned around as I waved at him again, and jumped off to god knows where.

' _Well, I finally made it to Konoha after three long days. Can't wait to see what happens next.'_ I thought to myself with a slight groan.

Well there is chapter 2. I wanted to build their relationship a bit before they left each other. But hey! Now we are in Konoha, so that's a plus! I'm also only going to write notes at the bottom, and they won't be long because I don't want to affect the word count a whole lot.

Hope you're enjoying!


	3. Chapter 3

I sat outside of the Hokage's office, waiting for him to allow me back in. Apparently I had taken too long at the gates, and the ones who were supposed to look after me while staying in the village had already arrive. I guessed that they were discussing the specifics of my stay, and how the politics of it were going to be. I sat in the chair quietly, looking around at the walls, taking note of the picture of the first three Hokage, thinking about how it could have been different if Madara had taken Tobirama's position. Probably could have avoided a couple incidents that have yet to happen.

The door clicked open, an anbu in the frame waving me in. When I approached, he side stepped so I could move past him. I looked to see two figures standing in front of the desk. One had long black hair, wearing a beige dress with a dark blue t-shirt underneath. The man had shoulder length black hair, wore the standard flak jacket and a black long sleeve shirt with the Konoha police force symbol on both shoulders. He had black pants, shin guards and some skirt looking thing with white diamonds around the bottom.

I squinted my eyes, almost immediately recognizing the woman, and then identified the man. _'Oh mang.'_ Of all the people to look after me, it just had to be Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha? I didn't mind Mikoto, she seemed nice enough, but Fugaku? I knew he was a hard ass. My head lowered, knowing exactly what was going to happen.

"Ah, it's nice to see you return." Hiruzen said, a polite smile on his lips. I only nodded, and walked forward a few steps, gaining the attention of the other two. I could already feel Fugaku judging me, while Mikoto just smiled. I bowed politely to them, trying to get into their good books right away. Fugaku nodded, letting me know it was alright to stand straight. When I lifted my head, the Hokage continued. "As you can probably tell, I am putting you under the protection of the Uchiha clan, and this is Fugaku, their clan head."

I nodded along, showing I was listening. I wondered if he was doing this to help the standing of the clan within the village, but brushed it off. The internal war wasn't too prominent at this point in time. I bowed again, "It is an honour." I heard Mikoto giggle, and I moved back up and smiled at her. "Well, we should get going and get you situated, should we not?" she asked, looking to her husband for confirmation. He simply nodded once, bowing to the Hokage. Mikoto and I mirrored his movement and we were dismissed.

Fugaku walked in front of the two of us, leading us through the building. I looked at the rooms lining the hallway, noticing some were classrooms and some were meeting rooms. We reached the doors and walked outside, the low setting sun blinding me for a few seconds before they adjusted. We took a road heading south east, walking past the hot springs. I only recognized them as the ones that Jiraiya was caught snooping in.

"So," Mikoto spoke up. "How was the trip here? The Hokage said you had no trouble." I nodded to her. "It was fun, actually. Kakuzu was a bit sour, but he did help me with training!" I told her, a big smile on my face. She smiled back, but then Fugaku spoke, to both of our surprise. "What did it involve?" I scratched my chin, puzzled for a moment.

"Well he taught me how to properly punch, kick and throw kunai. We didn't have much time to get to anything else." I answered as he mulled it over. "You will show me what you know when we get back to the compound." I nodded, somewhat worried about how harsh he could be. I felt a hand on the top of my head and I turned to see Mikoto smiling at me. "He just wants to help you get better, but you have to try your hardest now that you reside with us." she told me with a warning, and I clapped once.

"Of course!"

When we arrived at the compound, we entered the front door and took off our shoes, placing them neatly next to the door. I heard feet pattering about down the hallway, then a head poke out. A familiar head. One that seemed to be the same age as me, but I couldn't really tell.

"Hello Itachi. This is the girl we talked about, the one who is staying with us for a bit." He came out from behind the wall and walked up to me. He bowed, "It is nice to meet you." I mirrored his action, and repeated his words. "My name is Suchiru no Sabaku." He looked at me for a bit, before an eyebrow raised. "Steel of the desert?"

I nodded before explaining to him. "My father is the Third Kazekage. But he got kidnapped. He had a kekkei genkai, one that allowed him to control iron sand, so he named me after it." He nodded in understanding. Fugaku cleared his throat before motioning to a door at the back of the house. We all made our way to it, minus Mikoto, who I suspected was going to make tea.

We stepped outside, walking out on the porch before jumping down to the grass that surrounded the house. "Alright, I want you two to spar." I heard the head of the household declare. I froze up, knowing that even at three, Itachi was a prodigy. We stood across from each other, getting into our fighting stances, his looking just a _bit_ more graceful than mine.

I glanced over to see Fugaku, only to see a tight lipped look. My head fell, I was already disappointing him. "Go." He said, and Itachi moved first. He hit by my head, but my arms blocked it, them already being there. I moved forward quickly, throwing a punch with my right, and then following it up with my left, careful to dodge the incoming attack. He anticipated this, and moved to counter my dodge and punched me in my stomach.

I winced in pain, moving back a bit before bringing my hands back up to protect my head. I waited for him to close in before throwing the one-two punch, adding a kick at the end, getting him in the leg. I moved back, light on my toes before he came at me again, but harder. I tried weaving around his hands, but getting hit by most of his punches.

I tried thinking of what I could do to catch him off guard, only coming to one move. My rugby tackle. I thanked my previous life for being educated on the sport, and made my move. I dodged another swipe from him, pulling my head down and guarded it with my hands. I threw a hit, making him move back and giving me the space I needed. I pushed myself in, making it look as if I were going in for a punch, but ducked under his own and grabbed him around his thighs, lifting up and slamming his back into the ground. I quickly raised my fist, ready to punch, but I didn't move.

I heard clapping coming from the sidelines, and when I looked, it wasn't Fugaku. No, he had a wide eyed look that quickly transitioned into disappointment. The clapping was coming from the young boy beside him. The curly haired boy had a huge shit eating grin on his face. "Itachi, it's not like you to be beaten."

My face went fifty shades of red seeing the future prodigy congratulating me. "That last move caught me off guard." he defended. Fugaku shook his head. "You underestimated her." I hid my face in my hands, moving them so I could speak with a shaky voice. "No, h-he was winning, he's definitely stronger, and if I didn't use a foreign move he would have won." I heard Fugaku mumble to himself before there were footsteps in front of me.

Two hands grabbed my wrists bringing them away from my face. "Why are you blushing?" Shisui asked, pure curiosity on his face. If my face could get any more red from his closeness, it did. "I-I didn't expect anyo-one to be watching…" He let go of me, looking over to Itachi's father, who just rounded the corner into the house. "Fugaku-san was watching."

"I believe she meant other than him." Itachi clarified for me. "Though I did forget to mention you were here." I gave the younger Uchiha a menacing look. "He was… babysitting me." I looked at him again, this time with disbelief. "I wonder who was really babysitting who." I commented without thinking. "Hey now," Shisui whined. "I'm the older one."

Itachi smirked, "That doesn't mean you're more mature." The oldest of us pointed at him accusingly. "Stop using big words, you're only three!" "You're not much older. You're only six." he argued back. I started to slip away from the arguing duo, even though it was painfully obvious which one was actually winning. Then someone grabbed the collar of my dress, dragging me back.

"As much as I enjoy Itachi being beat, I would like to know who did it." Shisui said, twisting me around. "I'm Suchiru no Sabaku." I told him. He gave a deadpan look, crossing his arms. "Steel of the desert? Who names a girl that?" I huffed my cheeks before a hand was on my shoulder. "The Third Kazekage." Itachi answered for me.

Wide eyes replaced the deadpan look, and he scratched his cheek nervously. "Oh." Itachi and I both chuckled at this before Shisui commented again. "Does that mean he's here? During the war?" My head lowered. "No. He's gone. Kidnapped." A curtain of awkwardness descended onto the group, nobody commenting on it.

I felt a pair of arms wrap around me, holding me firmly. I looked up, only to get a face full of fluffy black hair. "They'll find him. Don't give up so easily." I was told, and I hugged him back and nodded. Though I knew it wouldn't happen, this was the first time someone other than my mother showed any sympathy for me, it was kind of awkward, but it was nice.

"Aw, aren't you two cute." I heard from the door of the house, causing me to stiffen. The boy hugging me let go, leaving one arm around my shoulders while scratching his head. "I was only trying to make her feel better, even though beating Itachi is enough." Mikoto laughed at us, but mostly at my incredibly red face. "Well come in and get something to eat. I made onigiri and dango for you three."

I don't think Itachi even moved this fast during our spar. He was in the house almost instantly, leaving Shisui and I out in the yard. "Last one back has to help clean up." I heard from beside me before he started running. "Hey that's not fair! You got a head start!" I whined as I tried to keep up with him. By the time I had made it in, the two already had their faces stuffed full with food.

"I can't believe you like picking on little kids." I aimed my comment at the older boy. He only grinned and stuffed his mouth with more onigiri. I sighed and sat down with the two, picking up the rice ball and munching down on it, now realizing that for the past couple days I hadn't really eaten much. I relished the food, sipping on the green tea that was also provided.

Shortly after we finished our snack, Fugaku escorted Shisui back to his place, and Mikoto showed me my room. It was adequately sized, having a fluffy futon smack dab in the middle of the room with white pillows and a dark blue comforter with the Uchiha crest in the center. She revealed the clothes she had for me in the closet, most of them bearing the Uchiha crest too. I asked her about it, and she told me that we needed to keep a low profile, so I needed to blend in with the rest of the clan.

After she left, I looked through the closet, seeing what she actually had for me. Most of it consisted of the same clothing that Itachi wore, with a couple dresses and leggings thrown in. My sleep clothes were a plain black t-shirt and pants, which was fine with me. I got changed into them, and relaxed into the futon, happy that I didn't have to sleep on the ground again. I thought back to what Mikoto said about blending in, furrowing my brows at the fact that I had yellow eyes instead of black or dark grey like the rest of the clan had. I would have to ask her about it at some point.

After months of training with both Itachi and his father, it was finally the day of reckoning. The day that I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to come, but here it was. Our first day at the academy. I stood next to Itachi, his parents behind us. The Hokage stood in front of the small crowd of students, lecturing us on what it was to be a ninja.

We were eventually let in, following one chunin that I didn't recognize. Everyone piled into a classroom on the first floor, and grabbed a seat. I decided to sit in the second row from the front by the window, Itachi following me in. I looked around the classroom, seeing that only two thirds of it was full. I pointed it out to the boy beside me.

"It must be because of the war." he told me. I nodded, figuring that the adults were too busy fighting for the village to reproduce. I noticed though that even a large amount of civilian kids were in the classroom. They must really be trying to get whoever they can.

The door opened, revealing our sensei. Not someone I knew, so I tuned him out a bit and stared out the window. I looked around outside, seeing the older kids practicing their kunai and shuriken throwing, wincing at how bad some of them were. They even looked to be about eight or nine, and still struggling with it.

Something bumped my arm, and I looked over to see Itachi handing me a sheet of paper, a test. I groaned, taking it from him and looking at it. Mostly reading/writing and math. I picked out a pencil from my case, getting to work on it. The first part was easy for me, and I flew right through it. Then it came to the math portion. Even in my previous life I wasn't exactly stellar at it. Good thing that this was the easy stuff that I knew from before, otherwise I would have been stumped.

I turned my page over, and looked to see the boy beside me was already done, hands crossed in front of him on the desk. He looked over, noticing me looking. I gave him a thumbs up, letting him know that it was relatively easy for me. He smiled a bit, then turned his attention outside with an eyebrow raised.

I jumped when I went to look at what he was looking at. In front of the window, his face pressed firmly into it, was Shisui. He was waving wildly, making a huge ass out of himself. Our sensei noticed the commotion, though Itachi was smart enough to look away before he was caught looking. A piece of chalk was whipped at my head in attempt to get me to stop looking. I apologized to our sensei, and then turned to glare at the older Uchiha, only to see him doubled over in laughter.

I promptly flipped him off and he tried to look offended, though couldn't due to him laughing at me. I was flicked in the head, making me turn back to Itachi, only to have him point at the teacher who was glaring at me. "Just because you happen to be an Uchiha does not mean you get free range of actions in the classroom. Pay attention." I nodded quickly, quietly sitting in my seat as they went on with the lecture.

Since I was residing with the Uchiha, I was to act like one, and behave well. I wasn't to tarnish the name, and me being kind of an idiot, was already doing it. I huffed my hair out of my face, pulling at the headband I wore, adjusting it so the Uchiha crest was at the top of my head instead of by my ear. I had a lot of people to impress.

The rest of the day went by quickly and with no distractions. I had to inquire about a part of the lesson, so when it was time to leave, I told Itachi to go on ahead, and that I would meet him outside. When everybody had left, I approached my sensei.

"Is it possible to learn a chakra nature you aren't born with?" He nodded, "It is possible, but takes time to master. Why?" I shrugged my shoulders. "I want to know what kind of chakra nature I have." He smiled, and reached into a drawer on the podium, handing my a few sheet of paper in a bag.

"Here, take these. They are a special type of paper that when infused with chakra, will react to it. Take it home and get your parents to show you how it works." I took the bag and thanked him. I threw them into my bag and took off out the door. I walked down the hallway, trying to remember the route I took to get there. I turned a corner, seeing a door that lead outside, but a bunch of kids blocked the way. They seemed to be from the same class, but older, given Itachi and I were entered early.

"Excuse me." I said, trying to get by the kids, only to get pushed back. "I don't think so, Uchiha trash." I glared at them, and tried to push past them again. "Hey we aren't done with you." The seemingly leader spoke again and pushed me hard enough to send me to the floor.

"You think just because you're an Uchiha you can get away with anything?" I got up, standing straight. "I don't know what your problem is, but I'm sure you can find another outlet other than pushing around a little girl." I told him. He only smirked, causing me to flinch back a little. His hand jolted out, grabbing me by my collar before I could turn away. He raised me up to his face, "You don't even look like one of them. Sure you got dark hair, but what's up with your eyes?"

I shut my eyes, and tried to kick his torso. "Leave me alone, I haven't done anything to you, asshole." He growled, and threw me down to the floor. "You're right; you're not worth my time. Now the clan head's kid, on the other hand…" He turned to leave, looking around for Itachi in the yard. I grunted as I lifted myself off the ground, and followed after them.

The sun blinded me a bit, but my eyes adjusted quickly and I hurriedly scanned the area for the other Uchiha. I saw him standing under a tree, patiently waiting for me. The other kid though was already hot on his trail. I sprinted towards him, jumping on his back and wrapping my arms around his neck, trying to jerk him away.

"Don't you dare go near him!" I shouted menacingly, almost scaring myself. I pulled him backwards, guiding him away. One of his friends ripped me off, throwing me down before holding me back. I struggled in the older boy's grasp, trying to get away from him. "Let me go!" I yelled, only for him to cover my mouth. I bit down on his hand, getting a gasp from him.

"She bit me!" he cried, waving his hand around trying to get the pain to leave. Itachi walked towards the commotion, standing in front of the leader. "I suggest you leave her alone." he told them, his face laced with a seriousness that didn't suit his young self. The boy laughed at him, pointing at me accusingly. "She started it."

"Hey, I did not!" I hollered at them, trying to plead my innocence. "I just wanted to get outside, and then you went on about me being an Uchiha." Itachi raised an eyebrow at the older boy in front of him, only to have him glare in my direction. "Let her go. Now." The boy holding me threw me out in front of him.

"Yeah, this isn't worth my time. Let's just go, Haru." The leader, Haru, gritted his teeth in frustration of not getting his way. "Fine." The lot of them walked away, leaving me in the dirt and Itachi watching after them, to make sure they didn't come back. He turned to me, holding his hand out. I grabbed it, thanking him in the process. He never asked how it all started, or why I jumped on Haru's back. We were silent most of the way home, until we crossed through the Uchiha gates.

"Oh," I spoke up, remembering what our sensei gave me. "Check out what I got from sensei." I pulled out the little plastic bag with the special paper in it. "It's chakra paper." I held it up to his face, and he took the small baggy gently.

"Why do you have these?" he asked curiously. "Well, I want to know what chakra nature I have, so this is what he gave me! Though it was kinda weird cause he said _'Bring it to your parents, they can help you'_ so I just nodded and played along with him. Do you think Fugaku can help me with it?" I asked him, and he nodded.

When we got home, I took off my shoes and ran up to Mikoto, asking where Fugaku was.

"Well, he hasn't come home from work yet, he probably won't be until closer to dinner. Why, what's wrong?" I thought for a moment, then remembered that Mikoto was a jonin before becoming a housewife. "Oh, maybe you can help me instead then. I got these," I said, pulling the papers out. "from sensei today. I want to know what my chakra nature is!" She smiled, and took the bag from my hand before leading both Itachi and I out to the yard, sitting down in the middle.

She took a small sheet from the bag, holding between her index and middle finger. "So, what this paper does, is it absorbs the chakra you infuse into it, and depending on what your nature is, something different will happen." She explained to the two of us, both listening intently. "The Uchiha family consists of mostly fire natured people," she said before the paper between her fingers went up in flames. "But you can have many different types, which is rare, and if you do you can have a kekkei genkai, a formation of the two."

"So like me, right?" I asked her. She nodded and handed Itachi and I one of the papers. Itachi took it, and held it like Mikoto did. He pushed chakra in, and a few things happened, to our surprise. It first split in half, one half becoming soaked and the other going up in flames. We both immediately looked to the older woman. She smiled at Itachi, "This means you have more than one type. The split meant wind, the soaked meant water, and flames mean fire. That's really good!" she praised him.

I looked at my piece of paper, and did the same. First it split in half, then one side to dust, disappearing, and the other side crumpled. I smiled, and looked to Mikoto. She looked worried, but then back to her smiling self. She must have been disappointed that I didn't have a fire affinity. "This works nicely, actually. If you two are on a team together, you will complement each other. So," she said, pointing to my paper. "You have wind, earth and lighting. And because of your wind and earth nature, you have the magnet release."

"But you said we would compliment each other, how so?" Itachi asked his mother. "Well," she started, "let's do a scenario. You two are fighting another shinobi. Itachi, you see an opening to use your fireball jutsu. If you two are in sync with one another, she can use any type of wind jutsu and amplify it. Wind is weak against fire because it helps it grow and become more powerful." We looked to each other, taking in her words. I think it would be interesting to team up with the family prodigy.

"But you, Itachi, can also assist her. If she wants to do an area of effect attack with lightning, then you can use a type of water jutsu, like the water trumpet technique, which can cover a large area, Suchiru can use any kind of lightning release and the damage will be amplified." she explained, smiling at our reactions. It's interesting to say in the least, to know that the only kid that I know in our class is compatible with me on the battlefield, at least with ninjutsu. I'm just hoping that we do get put on the same team, just to make everything that much easier.

But in order to do that, I would need to graduate with him. The prodigy. Who graduated at the age of seven.

I was in for a ride.

Alright! Here's another chapter. And oh man, grifman275, you are on point with your review. And to be honest, I never thought of being able to manipulate the iron in blood, so I will definitely keep that in mind!

Thanks for the reviews, they really keep me going!

Also, sorry about not updating earlier, I kinda got distracted from the story, but I am going to try and get a chapter out every two days or close to it.


	4. Chapter 4

Two years passed.

For those two years, I had trained with Itachi, Fugaku and on the occasion Shisui. Fugaku had decided on helping me improve my chakra natures, so I could use one or two of each type, which suited me just fine on top of my magnet release. Itachi had turned six already, and we were only four days away from my own sixth birthday.

Today we had run home right away from the academy, to meet up and look after Sasuke, who had been born just a few months prior.

When we arrived, Mikoto stepped out, claiming she had some business to attend to. She pre-made snacks for the two of us to munch on, which after she left, we brought out to the back yard. Itachi sat on the edge of the porch holding Sasuke while I practiced my kunai throwing, hitting each target perfectly.

Then I paused, picking up on an odd wind. I looked over to the other boy, as he seemed to have sensed something wrong as well. I picked up two kunai, handing one to Itachi and liquefying the other into a bracelet. Sasuke started to cry, wailing as though he had gotten hurt. I looked out into the sky, and then remembered something crucial.

"Itachi, what day is it today?" I asked him, a bit of fear seeping into my voice. "It's the tenth. Why what's wrong?" I swallowed hard. "We need to get somewhere safe. And qui-" I was cut off, a loud roar sounding throughout the immediate area. Sasuke was sent into hysterics, and the older brother clutched onto him tighter.

We left the house, trying to find somewhere to go. "I need to find my parents." Itachi told me before running off towards the police headquarters. I stood there dumbfounded before I was knocked over by other people trying to get anywhere safe they could. I picked myself up off the ground, trying to figure out where to go at this point.

I felt someone jump down from behind me and promptly grabbed me by the waist and hauled me off towards the Hokage Mountain. I looked to my saviour, thankful at seeing him. "Where is Itachi?" Shisui asked, looking down at the streets below. "I don't know, he ran off to try and find his parents. What's going on?" I asked him over the wind and roars that echoed.

"It's the nine tails. You know what it is, right?" I nodded my head. "Someone has unleashed it on the village. The Fourth Hokage is trying to seal it again." We landed at the top of the stairs to the safe rooms behind the mountain. I looked out seeing the monster outside of the village, rampaging. But it was getting closer.

The tears started rolling down my face, and I buried my face into Shisui's chest, trying to get the image out of my head. He pulled me back, looking into my eyes. "I need to go find Itachi, to make sure he and Sasuke are ok. So can you stay here and look after these kids?" I shook my head no, only because I didn't want him to leave me by myself.

"Listen to me, Suchiru!" I flinched at his loud voice, wiping the tears from my face before looking back to him. "If I don't go out there and find them, then they could die. We don't want that, do we?" he asked urgently, and I shook my head no. "But these people also need someone to protect them," He pointed to the civilians and children that were already in the safe room. "You are strong, and with your kekkei genkai, you can do it."

I finally agreed, but looked at him with seriousness in my eyes. "Once you find them, bring them back here. I can hold out until then." He nodded with a small smile, thankful that I was no longer stopping him. He jumped off, and I looked around, trying to find any useless steel that was around. I saw a fallen metal girder, slapping my hand on it and infused it with my chakra, watching it dissolve in front of me.

"Alright, everyone that's coming is in, time to close the barrier!" one of the older shinobi announced. With the metal now under my control, I formed it into a large ball and rolled it in with me. I sat down next to the door, so I could block it if need be. I looked around seeing many younger children and older civilians. I heard a small whimper next to me, and when I looked, I was pleasantly surprised to see a couple of dogs. My eyes moved to their owner, and I recognized her.

I held my hand out to her, "Hi, my name is Suchiru." she looked up in bewilderment, but shook my hand nonetheless. "Hana, Hana Inuzuka." She looked at me for a moment, before her eyes went wide. "You're in my class! At the academy! Well, I mean you were, until you and the other boy got moved up. Aren't you an Uchiha?" I stared at her, not realizing that I used to be in her class. I nodded, "Yeah, me and Itachi got moved up. We're both Uchiha." I told her, having to keep up the facade.

"But I don't think I've ever seen them do that-" she said, pointing to the ball of steel, "before." I shrugged my shoulders, "I think I got it from my mom." she nodded warily at me, probably not believing it, but it's not like I could really do anything else. I'm not exactly the world's best liar. Something I seemed to have brought with me from my other life.

There was a loud roar, and the earth shuddered, making me hold onto the ball tighter. Hana grabbed my arm in fear, and I held her hand, not only trying to calm her, but myself at the same time. This went on for what seemed like hours, even though it was maybe only two, before there was yelling at the door of the room.

The shinobi who were protecting us and watching the door looked to each other, unsure of what to do. Meanwhile, the yelling and banging continued on. I got up, racing to the door and tried prying it open.

"Hey! You can't do that, we are under strict orders to keep it closed!" I turned face on them, getting up in their faces. "Those are my friends out there! Itachi and Shisui Uchiha! If you don't let them in, I will disintegrate this goddamn door!" They shook their heads. "Orders are orders kid, now sit back down!" The older of the two yelled at me. I turned around again, facing the door and lifted my hands against it. Pools of metal began to form under my hands, loosening the door. I forced my hands through and pulled them down, bringing the door with them.

On the other side of the door stood the two boys, Itachi carrying Sasuke and Shisui looking to make sure no one tried to get them from behind. They both made their ways in, and I closed the now hole in the wall, blocking it with a giant thick sheet of metal, and reinforced it with my own chakra.

I turned my head, breathing heavily. Both Itachi and Sasuke were unharmed, Shisui just seemed out of breath. I walked over to the three of them, sitting down beside Shisui as rested my head against his shoulder. "What took you guys so long?" he chuckled, "These two aren't the easiest to find. _And_ I had to dodge around falling debris and whatnot." I nodded slightly.

The roars were ongoing, and almost painful to hear at this point. I could only imagine all the people dying, all the injured and unreachable. I could have stopped it. I could have warned them. But, then they would have suspected me for having something to do with it, and I didn't really want to face that. But was my comfort worth all this?

My revelation. My life for the many.

I jumped up, going towards the door. I started to faze through it, but someone grabbed my hand. I turned my head, looking at the culprit. "Where do you think you're going? We just got back." Shisui. "I can help out there. If I can get to the fourth, I can help." His expression hardened. "You're not going anywhere. You need to stay with us." I shook my head.

"I can't do that. Not while people are dying." I ripped my hand out of his grasp and reached the other side of the door. I jumped over to another fallen girder and melted it into a ball. I picked it up, holding it in front of me and jumped down the stairs. I looked to where Kurama was, seeing him focusing in on someone. I cursed to myself, speeding up my running as much as I could.

There was so much death and destruction around me. Everywhere I passed someone was injured or worse. I would have never dreamed of seeing this in my previous life. The tears started streaming down my face. Curse my sensitive soul. I squinted my eyes, seeing there was a figure in the distance, hunched over.

I approached the figure cautiously. That's when I saw it. Mikoto. She was lying in her own blood, struggling to breathe while a medic tried to slow the bleeding down. Fugaku could only stare at her, unable to do anything. But something changed. His eyes. They weren't the regular sharingan. They were the mangekyo sharingan.

"F-Fugaku-san…" I spoke quietly, afraid to break the silence. His eyes made contact with mine, and I don't think there was ever a time I was more afraid of someone than now. He grabbed the back of my dress, dragging me towards the beast that was laying waste on the village. "I need your assistance." His voice sounded so deadly, I didn't want argue with him. He jumped us up onto a roof where we had clear sight to Kurama. I set my ball down, awaiting instructions.

He didn't say anything; he only started forming hand signs. Ones for a fire technique. I clued in immediately, and started signs of my own.

"Katon: Gōka Messhitsu!"

"Futon: Kazekiri no Jutsu!"

He let the stream of fire go towards the fox, and my wind blades entwined with the flames, getting engulfed and making them much much larger. I could feel the heat of it even from where I was. The attack hit Kurama, making turn his head towards us. My eyes went wide as he started to charge up one of his tailed beast bomb, letting it go in our direction.

Fugaku took the metal ball, launching in the air above us, and I created a platform. He took me by my shirt, jumping onto the steel. I kneeled down, keeping my hands on our only form of safety, trying to keep it as stable as I could. The bomb flew under us, hitting just inside of the walls of the village. Kurama started charging again, and he didn't even seem fazed by our attack. It only seemed to make him angrier.

It fired off, going over our heads, but missed us. Then he charged at us. He made a little bit of distance towards us, only to be stopped entirely. It was as if he were frozen. I looked up to Fugaku and noticed his mangekyo was spinning. _'Oh no...'_ I turned my head to Kurama, looking into his eyes. They were the same.

"If they are going to seal him, now would be the time." He growled. I nodded and lowered us to the roof, being close to running out of chakra. I knew where they were holding the birth, so if I could get there and prevent Minato from using the reaper death seal, then that would be something.

I jumped down from the roof, and started running towards that direction. There were flames scattered all around the area from our attack, some of the other shinobi trying to put it out. They all were trying to get to the other people trapped or injured, all while the fox loomed over us, frozen. You could see the anger and frustration in the fox's expression, and I knew he hated the sharingan. But it was the only thing that could save us at this point, so I was thankful.

When I reached the birthing area, I was shocked to see that the family survived. I rushed over to Minato, pulling at his coat, moving his shocked eyes from the beast to me. "You don't need to use the reaper death seal! He's under the control of the sharingan. You can seal him normally!" I cried out to him. He nodded slowly, putting a hand on Kushina's shoulder.

They seemed to have a silent conversation, both nodding towards each other. Kushina stood over Naruto, releasing her chakra chains, gaining hold of the nine tails. One had attached itself to Minato, and one to Naruto. She started dragging him towards the other two, but struggling with it. "Minato… I'm low on chakra. I might not make it." He rushed over to her, pressing his palm to the middle of her back. A blue glow surrounded it, signalling the transfer of chakra. Tears started rolling down her cheeks.

"If you do this, you'll die." she told him. He smiled at her, one that could only come from the love that they had. "I know. But you know I'll do anything to protect my family." She nodded, crying even more at this point.

A loud roar was heard. I looked to the beast, and his eyes no longer held the sharingan. It was free, and its tails were lashing out around him, sending debris our way. I brought the steel up, shielding us from the big chunks, though some of the smaller getting through. She continued to drag him towards us, and he started to meld together with the chains, unable to resist.

It was an amazing thing to watch. The chakra of the nine tails was being split between Minato and Naruto, but with the way it was going, the former was going to die. I had barely any chakra left myself, most of used with the wind jutsu I used with Fugaku. I could only sit back and watch as he sacrificed himself for the village, showing one of the reasons we was chosen to become Hokage.

Kurama was finally sealed into Naruto, and Minato then walked up to me, putting a hand on my head. "Thank you so much for helping us. We truly couldn't have done this without you." He gave me a polite smile, and then walked over to Kushina, hugging her and saying his last words before turning to his son. He kissed Naruto's forehead, saying a few things to him, before performing the seals.

His hand pushed onto Naruto's plump belly, and the black markings formed. Naruto cried out, and Minato smiled. "He has a good pair of lungs." he spoke before collapsing onto his knees, falling onto the ground. Kushina cried out, picking his head off the ground and holding him in her arms, embracing him after death.

Naruto continued to cry out, and I walked over, picking him up. "Shh, it's alright now, everything is ok. Nothing's going to hurt you." I soothed, getting him to quiet down. It wasn't long before the medics started arriving, confirming Minato's death, and healing Kushina. One took Naruto from me, rushing the mother and son to the hospital, while another escorted me back to where I had left Fugaku, who knelt down beside a smiling Mikoto. _'At least she's made it through.'_

I walked with them to the hospital, supporting her with my iron sand. When we made it there, the two of them were escorted to a room while I stayed back in the waiting room. A nurse came up to me, offering a glass of water, which I gladly took. I watched the nurses and doctors running around, trying to tend to everyone. Some had to stay outside due to the lack of rooms they had.

I decided shortly after that the waiting room was too stuffy for me, and decided to go outside for some fresh air. I sat down against the wall of the hospital, looking around at how bad Kurama had destroyed the village. Beyond the southern wall was destroyed, and lots of the housing in the northern area was destroyed by the beast bomb. It was unbelievable that so much could happen in such little time. I watch the medics rush around, new patients coming in every other minute.

Two figures were running towards the hospital, one with a bundle in their arms. I lifted my head higher with a smile, thankful to see the three of them unharmed. Standing up, I opened my arms, waiting for one or the other (didn't really matter which one) and Shisui grabbed me under my arms, lifting and spinning me around while I hung on around his neck. He put me back down, placing a hand on my head.

"Glad you're ok. We weren't sure if we'd ever see you again." I smiled brightly. "Of course you would. You know I'm too stubborn for death." I told him, shushing the memory of my previous life. I turned to Itachi and Sasuke, hugging the two brothers. Then I remembered their parents. "Oh yeah, you may want to go in there, your mom was injured, but she'll definitely make it." the eldest nodded, and rushed in without saying another word.

I grabbed Shisui's hand, dragging him away from the people at the hospital, so we were out of earshot. His eyebrow shot up in confusion, and I looked around, just to make sure there was no one around. "There's something you need to know, you know, being the clan prodigy and all." I told him, his face becoming serious. "What is it?" he asked.

I swallowed hard, thinking over if I really needed to tell him about Fugaku's new sharingan. I decided it was for the best thought; even if it was not a big deal at this point. "It's about Fugaku. He… he has the mangekyo sharingan." His eyes went wide with surprise. "He… H-how..?" I shrugged my shoulders. "I think it was because he thought Mikoto died. Isn't that how it's done? By experiencing a traumatic event?"

I couldn't describe the look he gave me. "The Uchiha elders said you had to kill your best friend, or the person who's closest to you. But this… This changes things." He almost looked horrified. He must have already done it. He had the mangekyo. "Do you… have them too?" It seemed as though he couldn't even look at me now.

' _How? He's only nine!'_ I thought in bewilderment. "How though? You're only nine! Who did you kill?!" I demanded. "It doesn't matter! It's done!" he retorted before jumping off. I crossed my arms and growled in frustration. It would have had to be someone close to him, but not me or Itachi. Who else could it have been? Someone that never showed up, but we would have had to have heard of them.

This was going to frustrate me, but I was going to put it on the back burner for now.

A few days later, the majority of the village had been cleaned up. Both Mikoto and Kushina would make it out of the hospital, and I was thankful. I saved at least one person. This way Naruto wouldn't have to grow up alone, and I think it's going to be better this way. The Third Hokage was back in power, so that was normal. But the one thing that worried me was that I hadn't seen Shisui since I figured out what happened. I didn't mean to offend him in any way, I was just shocked and I can be loud without meaning to sometimes. I had kept an eye out for him around the compound, but with no luck.

I spent most of my time the past couple days exploring the forest surrounding the compound, practicing jutsus and improving my speed, but I knew I was always going to be slow compared to others. I had even ceased training in genjutsu because Fugaku had said I'd be next to useless with it, and I couldn't help but agree with him. So I stuck with ninjutsu as my strongest trait.

I walked along a barely used path, located near the northernmost police center. I didn't know where I was going, and Itachi was already out doing something, so I couldn't hang out around him. I wasn't really in the mood to play with little Sasuke either, so I had left the compound to have a look around Konoha. Mikoto had asked me to pick her up a couple things when I saw her in the hospital today, so I would do that on my way back.

There was a break in the forest ahead, but the sun was just at the right angle where I couldn't see out at what was there. I walked forward, pushing some bushes out of my way before I finally made it through. I was at a training ground, a small one, but had a decently sized open area. The trees around had targets that were covered with cuts and marks from shuriken and kunai, and the earth had burn marks. On the far side though, was a cliff. I feel like I should have recognized it, but I couldn't think to what it could have been.

I walked out, getting a couple kunai from my pouch, and tossing them at the ruined target on the trees. Getting them all on point, I forced them back with my chakra. _'I should get some like Asuma had.'_ I thought to myself, remembering that he had a special kind that infused the chakra nature into them.

I sighed to myself. Training wasn't that fun when you were by yourself. I liked training with others because you had some to talk to or spar with. Most of the time I was with Itachi, and we knew each other to a T, but that also made it easier for him to beat me, given that I am the slower half. Thought we have worked a few routines together if we ever need to bring some sorry sap down.

I turned from the targets and walked over to the cliff, sitting at its edge. There was a river down in the cavern below, jagged rocks and steep cliff walls. I fell backwards, laying my arms out beside me and my legs dangling off the side. An aggravated sigh left my lips, and I glared to the sky above me.

I didn't have a very exciting life at this point, minus the attack that happened a few days ago. I mean, I _was_ only six, and you can't do much at six. My training was really the only thing that kept me going, and the theory work was just god awful. I was more of a doer, not a thinker. The only things I was good at was acting, ninjutsu and my stamina was better than average. That, and the tiny muscles I was building up. Itachi didn't seem to have much, but I'm sure they were there, considering how much I hurt after our spars.

Then there was my friend circle, which happen to be even smaller than my previous life. Who knew that the other kids in our classes would stray away from the Uchiha? It's not like we were better than everyone else. We just took our training seriously. The only friends I had at this point would be Itachi and Shisui, and right now I wasn't sure about the latter. Maybe even Hana, but I haven't seen her since the attack. Maybe I would go see her at some point.

It was really bothering me that one of my only friends was avoiding me. I hated that kind of shit. Instead of avoiding, just tell me what I can do to make it better. And if there isn't anything, tell me so I don't have to worry about wasting my precious brain time on you. _'God dammit, Shisui you idiot.'_

"It's not nice to insult people, you know." I jumped at the sudden voice, so caught up in my thinking that I didn't hear anybody. I opened my eyes, not realizing I had closed them, and saw Itachi standing over me. "I didn't mean to say that out loud, I swear." He chuckled and sat down beside me.

"I am sure you didn't. What are you doing all the way out here?" He asked me, and I sat up. "I was just exploring, you know, doing normal kid stuff. Besides, Mikoto asked me to pick up some stuff for her, so I was going to do it on the way back." He smiled a bit, "I already got it. She figured you would have forgotten, so she asked me to do it." I sulked a bit, but couldn't deny it. I did sorta forget to get the groceries and whatnot she asked for.

"So what's this about Shisui being an idiot?" I groaned loudly, flopping backwards again. "It's not him, it's me. I just blame other people." I told him. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, after the attack, I guess I asked him a question I shouldn't have, and in the wrong manner, so he ninja jumped away and I haven't seen him since." the boy beside me was silent for a moment. I opened one eye, looking over to him. He had a slight smile on his face. "What? What is that smirk for?"

"It's not a smirk." he clarified. "He's not avoiding you either. At least by choice, anyway. He and his team have been doing recon around the village to make sure that no one has gotten close to the village. The attack left us vulnerable."

Oh. My. _God._ I hadn't even thought of that. Of course, it totally makes sense. I let out an exasperated sigh. "I am an idiot. _I_ am theidiot. I didn't even think of that. But they've been gone for days! They should have come back at least once." I complained, and the boy smirked. "They did come back, but it was only for a night. They left early the next morning."

I crossed my arms. "Well he could have come by, even for a minute." I grumbled under my breath. "You know he likes his sleep." Itachi commented. "Heh, he does, doesn't he? Explains why he's always late for our training."

We were silent for a moment before he spoke up again. "Ah, I was going to ask. Why are you out here?" I lifted an eyebrow. "You already asked." he shook his head. "No, I mean here specifically." My eyebrow didn't move.

"I don't even know where 'here' is. I told you I was exploring. I never even saw any signs, either, come to think of it." He sighed again, looking out across the deep canal. "It's the Naka River." I sat up at the name, trying to remember where I had heard the name. Then it hit me.

' _This is where Shisui committed suicide.'_

I'm so sorry. Please forgive me for being late on this one. I kind of wasn't sure what direction I wanted to go with this, who I wanted to save/kill off, and I was battling really hard with whether or not to give Fugaku the sharingan. But alas, I did. A little bit of a twist. So I had a hard time writing this. Also Fallout 4 came out and I've been playing the shit out of that. BUT! I'm going to try and keep to my every two days schedule.

Katon: Gōka Messhitsu: Great Fire Destruction

Futon: Kazekiri no Jutsu: Wind Cutter Technique

Also, do you guys prefer the Japanese names for the jutsu's and whatnot? Or English?

Thank you for reading this! You guys are the best!


	5. Chapter 5

My eyes were wide with shock. My hands started to shake. I felt like my heart stopped. A terrible feeling settled itself in my stomach, and I couldn't believe where I was. Itachi sensed that something was wrong, and attempted to shake me out of it, but I was stunned. I was sitting in the spot where one of my friends was going to die. I didn't know what to do. What could I do? There wasn't exactly anyway to stop it, not unless I found a way to stop the Uchiha coup myself. But I was only six.

There _was_ the fact it wouldn't take place for another four or five years, so I had a bit of time. And hopefully I could convince Itachi not to go through the genocide of the clan, if it got that far.

A hand on my cheek jolted me out of my thoughts. I quickly glanced at the hand, then to its owner. Itachi had an incredibly worried look on his face. "You're crying." He commented quietly, still trying to process it. I looked away, rubbing at my eyes with my sleeves, trying to get all the tears.

"I didn't mean to. Sorry." I said, trying to chuckle, but he wasn't buying it. "Why though?" I shook my head, trying to think of some excuse to cover me. "It just reminded me of my parents for some reason. Nothing to worry about!"

He looked doubtful, but dropped it anyway, which I was thankful for. I just wished I had someone else to talk to about this. Keeping it in and knowing that bad things are going to happen is killing me inside. I guess the only thing I can really do is keep up with Itachi in schooling and pass the exams the same time, so I needed to get my little butt in gear.

We walked home not long after, and it was silent the whole way back. I couldn't really speak, my mind going a mile a second trying to figure out ways to prevent a civil war, one that may have already begun. But I thought about it, the reason they were out casted was because they weren't helping during the attack; they were told to stay behind. But this time, I saw many of them out in the field working rescue, and the others working to get civilians to safety. That, and the fact that Fugaku was the one to stop the nine tails from attacking the rest of the village. He was even ranked up to a jonin commander because of it, which meant he was on the committee and could even help choose the next Hokage.

At least it was something. The Hokage was showing that he trusted the Uchiha. Now the rest of the village had to follow, but even I knew it wasn't going to be easy. So until I was old enough to make a difference, I would have to watch from the sidelines, and after clearing the air with Shisui, hopefully use him as my voice in the meetings, if they had any.

….

The next day started as any other did. I got up, cleaned up and was out training with Itachi by five in the morning. We started off by practicing targets, followed up by ninjutsu training and ending with a spar between the two of us, which he normally won. We then walked back to the compound, getting a bite to eat and then we were off to the academy by about seven-thirty. We then sat in our seats, banished to the front row by the older kids because of our age, and waited for the lesson to start. Ten minutes before class thought, we were approached by one of the sensei.

"You two are being assigned to another class." We both nodded, and he showed us to another classroom and to my dismay, it was filled with even older kids. This must have been the last class switch we were going to have, given that most of them looked to be twelve, some thirteen. We got stares and glares, but ignored it; Itachi because he was used to it, and me, because I didn't have a choice.

The lesson went on, new stuff being taught to us, though we had already heard most of it from Fugaku. It wasn't entirely hard for me to keep up given my past life and the education I got then, which is another reason I was able to keep up as much as I have. And my personal cheat sheet and mentor, Itachi, because he was a _prodigy_ , and they are always smart. And the fact that he is an Uchiha. That helped a bit too.

We left, walking through the shopping district in the Uchiha compound. We stopped into the sweet shop, grabbing a couple candies then leaving once again to head back home. When we arrived, we went straight out to the back, training even more. Fugaku had already mentioned that we were already high levelled, at about chunin, but not to let it get to our heads, given that we were only six and still had to graduate to genin. But there was always room for improvement.

A thump was heard behind me, and I turned from Itachi and whipped around with my kunai in hand and attempted to injure the person. My arm was easily caught, and I was disarmed. Shisui stood there, smiling like nothing had ever happened between us. I gave a small smile back before jumping into his arms, giving him a hug.

"I was only gone for a couple days; did you miss me that much?" I let go and hit him upside the head. "I thought you were ignoring me. You didn't even say anything before you left, moron." He rubbed his head and wore a sheepish smile. "Yeah I didn't exactly have a choice. We left shortly after the attack happened." I crossed my arms, still glaring at him, but accepted his apology.

"Right, whatever. I know you like Itachi more anyway." I said to him, faking my heartbreak. His face look so distraught, I almost started laughing, but kept my act up. "Hey now, who said that? Itachi, was that you?" The younger boy's eyes went wide, and then turned to me, who had fake tears running down my face. "No, I didn't. Stop making things up, Suchiru." He said, pointing a finger at me.

I shrugged my shoulders after my act dropped. "Well maybe if Shisui put more effort into our relationship, I wouldn't have to." Shisui deadpanned. "You make it sound like we're married."

"Well we would be if you weren't married to your work!" I sighed dramatically. He slid down on one knee, holding my hand in his. "I'm sorry, my love. But we just can't be. You know how busy I get, when will I ever have time for you?" I put my other hand across my forehead, looking away from him. "I know, but know this," I started, turning back to face him. "I will always love you."

Itachi stood in front of this display, not sure how to respond. Shisui and I burst out laughing, and I slung an arm around the younger boy. "Don't worry," I told him. "This just means I have more time for you." He shook his head, exasperated by the show. "You only hang out with me anyway."

I tapped my chin. "I do, don't I? I guess I need to find some more friends. Especially if we're going to graduate soon. Hopefully." Shisui gave a weird look to the two of us. "You guys are graduating soon?" I nodded my head.

"We were moved up another class today. Now we're with the twelve year olds. You could say we're pretty cool." I said, crossing my arms and giving a smug look. Itachi only nodded to the older boy, confirming what I told him.

"That's pretty impressive. Two years ago I would have never guessed you would have gotten this far so quickly, Suchiru." I gave a glare to him, and stuck out my tongue. "You're just jealous that we're ahead of where you were when you were our age." He smiled. "Actually I was in about the same spot, sooooo…" I turned my head away, giving him a dirty look.

We were called in by Fugaku, and the three of us piled in the back door. Mikoto was standing there, supper on the table and a teapot in her hand. "Mikoto! How are you doing?" I asked excitedly, surprised to see her home already. "I'm fine now; I hope you two have been behaving." We both nodded, and Shisui only shrugged his shoulders with a smile.

"We have been moved up another class." Itachi informed his parents. Mikoto congratulated us, while Fugaku only smirked. "That's good. You'll be genin in no time." he said confidently. We both nodded again, knowing what was expected of the two of us. It wasn't going to be easy, but at this point I didn't have a choice.

Maybe it was better that way. _Motivation_ , am I right?

….

Since we were promoted into a new class, we have been focusing more on actual training in the academy, and getting ready for our new teams. I was hesitant on the team forming part, afraid I was going to be separated from Itachi, so I had thoughts about purposely getting low marks, but knew what would happen if Fugaku had ever found out.

Everything was back to normal in our little trio too. I never brought up the mangekyo thing again, and I think that was for the better. Eventually I would have to, but not for a while. So until then, everything would have to be played out like a cool cat.

Shisui was out on missions more often, so we rarely saw him anymore. I had also gotten to know Hana a lot more, and trained with her, although that was like sparring with a four year old. She wasn't horrible, but since I was quite a few levels above her, it was easy. But I was helping her in the meantime, so it was worth it.

Today, however, was the day we would finally be assigned to our new genin teams. We were all sitting in our seats, both Itachi and I seven years old, him almost eight. Our sensei walked in, looking like he hadn't gotten a wink of sleep the night before. He placed the sheet of names on the podium, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

He sighed before finally started. "Alright, all of you will now be assigned to your genin teams. Please be quiet and remain seated until all teams have been named off, understand?" We all chorused 'understood' and he went on to naming the teams.

My name was the first to come up for team four. "Team Four will consist of Uchiha Suchiru, Uchiha Itachi, and Nara Maen." I looked over to Itachi, a big smile on my face, and his posture relaxed, knowing that someone he trusted was on his team. Though I found it weird that they put the two youngest kids on the same team, I was thankful. I was also excited because we got someone from the Nara clan on our team, which was really interesting.

The last of the teams were announced, and our old sensei left. Everyone had gathered in their new teams, and I waved our new teammate over. He sighed, getting up from his seat in the back row and meeting us in the first. Both Itachi and I said our hellos and got one in return. I held my hand out for him, waiting for him to shake it.

"My name is Uchiha Suchiru. It's nice to meet you!" He nodded hesitantly, and then shook my hand, repeating the process with Itachi. "Nara Maen. But now that we're a team, just know that I'm not gonna babysit the two of you." We both nodded in understanding, knowing where he was coming from.

"Don't worry; we can be dependable when we need to." I told him, and he nodded again. "So, we are supposed to meet our new sensei apparently at training ground four ironically." I said, holding the sheet of paper we received from our old sensei. " _Or maybe on purpose_." It was located in the north eastern part of the village, on the lower area of the Naka River, so we needed to hurry our butts up to get over there.

We walked out of the academy, talking about our abilities and what we were weak at. Itachi's list of abilities was the longest, and weaknesses the shortest. We also found out that Maen barely did anything for the written test, preferring the actual physical test of skills. It explained why we had him on our team.

I looked him over, seeing that he was a typical Nara. Kind of lazy, but actually really smart. He looked a bit more built then I remember Shikamaru being at this age, and the same iconic Nara hairstyle. He wore the typical black pants, his ankles taped up and normal black ninja shoes. He had a plain black v-neck t-shirt and had a light grey, high collared vest that went to mid thigh and wore it open, having the clan symbol on the back. His headband rested around his neck, along with a necklace that had a piece of what I assumed was deer antler. He had his thigh kunai/shuriken holder on his left, and the back pouch hidden under his vest. Overall kind of plain, but it worked.

Itachi wore the same outfit he had whilst in the Anbu, from what I could remember. The high collared black shirt with short sleeves and Uchiha crest, and black arm bands that covered his forearms. He had black capri pants, his calves taped up but his pants not tucked into it, and the standard sandals. His headband sat snug on his forehead, and his kunai pouches sat on his right leg and on his waist. He was a bit boring, but that was typical Itachi.

My own outfit was a bit strange to me. My hair, for starters, was somewhat resembling Madara's in the way it spiked out in the back and cascaded down to the small of my back. My bangs were swept to the left, but some of it was still in the middle of my face, and my headband was tied around my head in the same fashion Sakura would wear hers. Mikoto told me it was to keep my hair out of my face, but it just didn't want to work with me. I had a high collared overcoat, the sleeves coming to mid forearm, and the bottom of it reaching my knees bearing the Uchiha crest on the back. There was a belt just under where my boobs would be, if I had any, and under that the coat was open, making it easy to access the pouches on my waist and right thigh. A netted shirt was underneath, while I wore black leggings that ended under my knees, and black standard sandals.

We ended up at the training grounds, but seeing no one there. Wandering out into the middle of the field, Itachi scanned the area around us, finding a figure in the trees to our left. I nodded to Maen as I grabbed a kunai with wire attached to it. I threw it to the tree which the figure sat in, holding the wire between my fingers. Maen made some hand signs before releasing his shadow jutsu, following where I threw the kunai in the woods, but Itachi warned us that the figure disappeared and we fell back into a formation, Itachi in the middle and the two of us in front and behind him, protecting him as he scanned the area once again.

"I can't see them." Itachi spoke quietly. I sighed irritably, trying to figure out a way to find this guy. I could branch my chakra between different steel objects, so that may work. "Throw some shuriken and kunai to different part of the woods, I want to try something." The two of them nodded, and started throwing their weapons around. When they finished, I took one of my own that had metal wire attached to it, lacing it with chakra, and threw it out to the woods on our right. I put my hands into the sign of the dragon, and my chakra branched out between every kunai and shuriken there was.

I closed my eyes, focusing on the interferences between the strings, seeing other trees, wildlife and other plant life. Then there was an unidentifiable object. It was bigger than the other wildlife, given that it was breathing, but it had no chakra, or rather, the chakra was blending in. I kept my eyes closed, but told Itachi the location. He looked over, "I can't see anything. It's possible they are using nature chakra to conceal themselves. But how?" I racked my brain for someone who had that ability, only to come up with Jiraiya, but I knew he wasn't in the village at the time, so it couldn't be him.

"I'm not sure. Maen, follow my chakra stream to the north east, about seventy feet." He nodded, and performed the jutsu. I could feel the pull of his jutsu on my chakra, using it as a guide. He caught the person, and tied him up with the shadow possession. Itachi could now see him, and unsheathed a kunai and jumped away.

"Itachi, don't kill him. We can use him for interrogation." Maen told the younger boy. I could sense Itachi through my chakra, seeing that he reached the body and held the kunai up to its throat. Chakra flooded the body, and I could now see it clearly through my own chakra. I released my chakra connections and stood up, walking over to where Itachi held our captive.

I stood under the tree and looked up, seeing who we caught. I recognized the style of clothing almost instantly, but I didn't know who it was. He raised his hands, his sign of defeat, and Itachi stood down. He jumped down, and motioned for us to move back into the middle of the field, and we did so, only just a bit cautiously.

Itachi and I stood next to Maen, showing the height difference between us all. The man stood in front of us, sizing us all up, and brows furrowing when he looked at Itachi and I. We all stood in a line, backs straight and hands behind us.

"So you are my new genin team." He spoke, not harshly, but firmly. We nodded in unison, showing we were paying attention. "My name is Aburame Shibi. Hopefully you know what my clan is capable of." We nodded once again. "I also take it you have an idea of why you three were placed on a team." Itachi nodded, but both Maen and I were hesitant. Shibi sighed and pushed up his sunglasses.

"You three are an experimental team. All of your guardians have agreed to it, and so has the Hokage. I'm in charge of you because I am one of the strongest shinobi in the village, and a clan head." We nodded along with him, our ears perked.

"So, the experiment here is that we are putting three of the highest scoring genin on the same team, and sending them on higher ranking missions right away. Since we are- unfortunately- still recovering from the third war and Kyuubi attack, most of our higher ranking shinobi have fallen, or retired." He took a breath before continuing. "You are going to be skipping the D-rank missions and immediately moving onward to the C-ranks."

We looked between us, and eyebrows rose. "The reason it was you three _in particular_ though, is because theoretically you should work extremely well together. You two," he pointed to Itachi and I, "have trained together your whole lives so far, and your chakra natures work in support with each other. But we also have the fact that you," he said, pointing a finger at me, "are the slowest of the team, but you're the heaviest hitter, which works in tandem with Itachi as the fastest and most agile." we nodded, but Maen beside me raised his hand. "Uh, Shibi-sensei, where do I come in?"

He nodded, "You are the brains and a capturer. I know the test scores for your written exam are not a true representation of what you are capable of, and you were always more of doing than not, even if you are a great tactician. _And_ with your shadow possession technique, you can catch anyone, giving Suchiru a chance to deliver a heavy blow, or Itachi a chance to use genjutsu and interrogate the enemy." We all stared, and a look of amazement was on my face.

"We're gonna be the best team ever!" I shouted, earning a small smile from Itachi, a jump of shock from Maen, and a nod from Shibi-sensei. "But, before you can be the best, you have to train with your new team. And even though you and Itachi work very well together, you need to improve your work with Maen. So I made a schedule." He told us, taking a couple of papers out of his jacket pocket and handing it to each of us.

"On Sunday, which is two days from now, is when we start. Suchiru, Sundays are for you. Mondays are Maen and Itachi, Tuesday, Maen alone. Wednesday, Itachi and Suchiru, Thursdays is Itachi alone, Friday is Maen and Suchiru and Saturdays is everyone all together." He concluded, and we all nodded along.

"What will we be doing?" Maen ask sensei. "On the days I have you alone, we will be focusing on building up your strengths and weaknesses, working with your elementals, etc., but also training you with different weapons, seeing what suits you the best." we nodded. "When there are two of you, you will be working on teamwork, obviously, but I won't be there. That's something you guys have to figure out on your own." We nodded again, albeit with a bit of hesitation. "When all of us are together, we put all the work that you've done over the week together, and show me what you've got, because I will not let you participate in the chunin exams until you beat me in a legitimate fight"

I raised my hand, and he nodded towards me. "But what about missions? If we are training all week, how will we have time to do them?" He pushed up his glasses, sighing. "When we get missions, the training will be postponed. We will focus purely on team training while on a mission, and further enhancing your skills, especially chakra control, like walking on water and climbing trees and walls and whatnot. Weaponry will also be handled, practicing on targets and using your weapons for ricocheting other objects." We nodded again, and for some reason it seemed like that's all we could do.

"Alright, you three have the rest of the night off, and the next two days to get to know each other. Use your time wisely." We stood straight and chorused, "Yes sir!" Shibi-sensei jumped away, leaving the three of us to ourselves. I stood in front of the other two, pumping my fists into the air. "Okay, not only are we going to be the best team, but we also now have time off. What should we do?" I asked the both of them. Itachi shrugged, and Maen just threw his hands behind his head, not really caring. This was the only downside to our new team. Itachi wasn't much of a talker, and Maen probably didn't want to spend most of his days with two seven year olds.

"Hmph. Fine!" I declared. "Tomorrow we can do whatever we want. But Saturday, we get together around, say, eight in the morning and start training together, nothing serious, but just something so we can familiarize with each other." They both agreed, and we walked back to the main road together before going our different ways.

"So he's pretty cool, right?" I asked the boy walking with me of our teammate. He nodded. "You can certainly tell he doesn't like moving unless he has to. But yes, he seems like someone who will work very well with us." I smiled before starting up again.

"I think it's also pretty awesome that we got on the same team, even if it is an experiment." He only nodded, probably mowing over the kind of missions we'll be getting. We walked through the compound gates, heading towards the Uchiha manor in silence, looking around at all the people around us busying themselves with life. When we reached the house, we walked in, setting our shoes aside and made our way to the table and sat down on our respective mats.

Tea and dango had already been laid out for us, but we didn't take any until Fugaku and Mikoto arrived. They both had smiles on their faces, Fugaku a little bit less though, to retain his tough image.

"How was the academy today?" Mikoto asked with excitement in her voice. I pointed my thumb to my headband, "We are officially genin today!" I said, thrilled to be getting somewhere other than our boring classes. "Yes, and we have our new team, as well." Itachi concluded. Fugaku nodded before Itachi spoke again. "But you knew that already."

"Yes, we were approached a few months ago actually. A few weeks after you two were moved up." Mikoto stated. "We figured it would be better to try and keep you on the same team, so at least you're familiar with each other. That, and the Nara boy seems quite smart and a good addition to the team." she finished.

"It also shows how highly the Hokage thinks of you two, to be assigned to a team that will be tasked with much harder missions than the other genin." Fugaku added. We both nodded, knowing what was expected of us. Fugaku then left, probably tending to some policing business, and Mikoto stayed with us, making small talk.

"So, how did the initiation test go?" she asked us. "It went well." Itachi answered, short and to the point. I rolled my eyes at him before swallowing the dango in my mouth. "Shibi-sensei hid in the trees, the first time Itachi sniffed him out with his sharingan, and the second time, he used his kikaichu to absorb nature chakra and hid himself with that. I had to use my own chakra threads to find out where he was. After I found him, Maen paralysed him with his shadows and Itachi went in for the kill." Mikoto giggled at my reaction to Itachi, and then nodded along with my explanation. I knew she treated me more like a kid then she did with Itachi, but I was fine with it.

"Well, it's a good thing you didn't have to use your kekkei genkai. Speaking of which, Fugaku and I want you to refrain from using it if possible, just to make sure you stay undercover." She warned me and I nodded. "Oh!" I said, before pulling out our new schedule. "This is our new training schedule." She took the sheet from me, mulling it over.

"This works out perfectly." She said, and our eyebrows rose in questioning. "Two out of the three days you are off you can train with Fugaku." We both nodded, agreeing it would be best, and we would at least have one day a week to ourselves.

We finished our dango and tea before we went out to the backyard, lazing around and practicing our targeting. I looked over to the small pond they had, a couple of koi fish swimming around. I walked over it, thinking that I could probably get the water walking pretty quickly.

"What are you doing?" Itachi asked as I lifted my foot to attempt it. "I wanna try water walking. Shouldn't be too hard right? I've got decent chakra control." One of his eyebrows rose, questioning my ability to do it.

I focused chakra into the sole of my foot, hovering it over the water. I pressed it down, only to have it sink a bit, but not all the way. I balanced so I had the same amount in my other foot and stepped into the pond, watching as the koi swam away from me. I started walking forward, foot still half immersed in the water when a pair of hands knocked me off balanced, and sent me straight into the pond soaking my front.

I turned quickly, my glare hardening on the curly haired boy laughing on the bank of the pond. "Shisui! Why do you have to be such an ass?!" I screeched at him while he wiped the tears from his eyes. "I couldn't help it, it was the perfect opportunity!" he said through his laughs.

"Ugh, you always show up at times where there is a perfect opportunity to _irritate_ me, jerk." his laughing died down a bit, and he held his hand out for me to take. "Fine, fine. Ruin my fun. I'm sorry." I smiled sickeningly sweet and quickly took his hand before he could retract it. His eyes went wide as I pulled him down, making him go head first into the mud below the water's surface.

"Eat dirt, nerd."

…..

Alright, so I have officially given up on trying to stick to a schedule, cause it's just not working. Fallout is getting the better of me, and work is being a bit of a bitch. So yeah….

Anyway! Maen Nara is a real person from the anime/show, and he's about the right age to be in the older part of their class. Shibi Aburame is also the head of the Aburame clan and Shino's dad, so I thought it would be cool to have him as their jonin sensei.

Hope you like it!


	6. Chapter 6

Saturday had finally rolled around. Itachi and I had gotten up and ready, already out at the training field by seven-thirty. He started to survey the field, getting more of a feeling for it while I stretched myself out in the middle, soaking up the morning sun. My hands behind my head, I closed my eyes, thinking about where we were at the time.

Since we were seven, which would mean three more years until Itachi graduated to chunin, which would mean at least three more years for me as well. _Then_ two years after that, he would join anbu, which would leave me and Maen without a teammate, thus needing to replace and who knows who they would put on our team.

Then there was age thirteen. The year where most of the shit would go down. Still not sure what I was going to do about that, but at this point I don't really think that I needed to worry. The unease with the Uchiha started after the attack in canon, because the clan was absent during it. But in this life, they were there to help. So maybe my presence altered something. There was no way that 'my character' was in the canon story, given that there was no mention of her in anyway, so maybe I'm just lucky?

Footsteps broke me out of my trance and I sat up, greeting our other teammate. He gave a lazy wave as Itachi walked over to the two of us, stopping with his hands on his hips. I jumped up, excited to learn how we would work together, and how we would combine our abilities. It would definitely be interesting.

"So, how are we going to start off today?" I asked the two boys, a bright smile on my face. They both looked to each other, silently deciding what to do. Their eyes turned to me, and I knew exactly what was going to happen. I immediately jumped away from the two boys, Itachi making his signs for his fireball jutsu, and Maen reached into his pouch for some shuriken. I cart wheeled to the left, avoiding the barrage of shuriken, then jumping into the air, dodging the fireball and sending one of my wind cutter techniques at Maen, knowing it was a bad idea to aim at the younger boy.

Maen dodged, of course. Itachi's sharingan activated, telling me that he was somewhat serious about this spar. But I knew that he would never use any genjutsu on me, considering me a part of the family. We stood about ten yards away from each other, the other two waiting for me to move. I knew Itachi; any movement he would have made, I knew what he would do. But Maen, he was the wild card.

I reached for my pouch quickly, pulling out a kunai and deflecting the weapons they threw at me immediately. I threw it, aiming at Itachi, only to deflect it at the last second with my magnetic chakra, sending it in Maen's direction to the unknowing shinobi. His eyes went wide, leaning back so it just missed the tip of his nose. I smirked at the boy, only to get a scowl from his partner.

"Right, sorry." I said, scratching the back of my head. Itachi only shook his head, and continued with the spar, going right for the taijutsu. My eyes went wide, and I backed up, dodging his punch and going in for my own, only to get kicked in the side by Maen. "Keep your senses up, and try and keep track of both of your opponents." I scoffed, doing a back flip before reaching into my back pouch for two kunai. Throwing them, I clasped my hands together, forcing the wind around us to pick up.

Now because of this, Itachi couldn't use any fire ninjutsu, unless he wanted all three of us to burn alive. Maen took his chance and used his shadows and attempted to capture me. I smirked, knowing exactly how they worked, and jumped out of his range. The only way they were getting me was with long range combat. Which I, unfortunately, was not exactly stellar at. And since I couldn't use my magnet release, I was officially screwed.

"You're better with close combat, so at this point, the game becomes ours." Maen spoke, widening his stance to get ready for his jutsu. The wind started to die down, and I was running out of time. I formed seals, then raised my hands above my head, clapping them together then pulling them apart quickly, letting the electricity run between the two. Now this technique wasn't perfect, and I had been training by myself to form this one, so this is the first time Itachi had seen it. So far I could only whip it around once before losing control of it, unable to keep it between my hands.

I thrusted my hands outward, letting it stretch out across the space between us, only to fall short of the two. I hung my head in shame, hoping it would work, but alas, it died before it could even reach halfway across. I collapsed to my knees, reaching my arms above my head, and let out a strangled cry.

"What are you doing?" I heard the oldest of the group ask. I laid out in the dirt of the training ground, letting out a deep sigh. "Crying my sorrow out." I felt myself being pulled up by the back of my shirt. "Come on, we still gotta train, whether you want to or not." I crossed my arms, a glare set on my face.

"It's not that I don't want to, it's that I messed that up." Itachi shook his head. "It would have worked." he said.

"What are you talking about? It clearly didn't." I retorted, pointing at the lightning gashes on the ground. "Well," he started. "if you hadn't used the wind jutsu earlier, you would have reached us. Using the wind was your downfall because lightning is weak to it."

"Oh. That makes sense, I guess."

"Do you want to try again?" he asked me, and I nodded eagerly. "Yeah, now that there's no wind, it should work." Maen spoke. I was dropped back down to the ground, and the two boys took their places again. I made my hand signs, and put my hands above my head, clapping them together then bringing them apart. The lightning arched between the two, and I pushed forward, aiming at them.

The lightning pushed outward, and reached them just after they jumped out of the way of my attack. I thrusted my hands in the air in joy, accidentally throwing more of the lightning up. "Oops, didn't mean to do that." I apologized to the bird that fell out of the sky, twitching on the ground now paralyzed. I pushed my hair out of my eyes, looking at the other two. Maen gave me a thumbs up, while Itachi just nodded in approval.

"Alright, I think that's enough for me. I'm almost out of chakra." I said, waving my hand in front of my face. Itachi only smiled, "That means it's time to practice our taijutsu." I shook my head, groaning. "Then it's me and Maen against you. That's only fair."

"Nah, I want to see you guys go at it, being the 'best' in our class." Maen suggested, and I let out a louder groan. "You both are against me aren't you?" Maen only smirked, and Itachi adjusted his headband and got into a battle stance in front of me. I sighed to myself, and shot a glare at the oldest. He only smiled and sat under a tree, getting a clear view of us. I put my fists up, close to my head, protecting it.

"What is that kind of stance?" Maen asked with a smirk. "It's typically for boxing, nerd. A type of fighting style that uses raw strength." He waved his hand, and I turned back to my opponent. I made the first move, going to punch his stomach, and he dodged and threw a punch of his own. I caught it, pulling him forward and twisting to kick him. He grabbed it with his unoccupied hand, and I reached for his weapons pouch on his leg, grabbing a kunai and going for his side.

He pulled his arm that I had in my hand down, making me cut myself. I released him from my hold and jumped back, giving myself a bit of space. I wiped my arm on my coat, and then raised my kunai back up, blocking the shuriken that he threw. I jumped back in immediately, and he countered with his own kunai. The weapons clashed several more times before mine was tossed away into the dirt, and I was held at knife point.

I threw my hands up in surrender, not wanting to have my neck slashed. Itachi swirled the knife on his finger before putting it away in his pouch. I sighed, my head hanging low. "When will I ever be able to beat the great Uchiha Itachi?" He only shrugged his shoulders, and we walked over to our teammate, who now seemed to be snoozing under the tree he decided to sit under.

"Hey, get up." I half yelled, kicking his foot. He snorted a bit before his eyes started to open, and his hands unfolded from his lap to rub his eyes. "You're done already?" I growled a small 'yes' out as he stifled a laugh. I crossed my arms and pouted.

"Well, it's past noon. Should we get something to eat?" Itachi spoke up. I nodded my head and put my hands on my hips. "If Maen wants to get up from his beauty sleep." The boy in question stood up, slinging an arm around my shoulder.

"Aw, you think I'm beautiful?" I looked up at him, an eyebrow raised at his question. "Do you honestly want me to answer that? Because I will." He quickly backed away, shaking his head no. "That's what I thought. Now if you two will, let's go to Ichiraku Ramen. I've never been there and I want to try it."

….

We sat on the stools just inside, the other two already munching on their bowls of noodles. I just stared at mine, looking at its perfection. "Are you going to eat it? Or can I have it?" Maen asked from my right.

"No, no. I'm just… appreciating its perfection." I said to him, cupping my hand around the lip of the bowl, preventing him from getting any. He pouted, but continued to look for an opening, which I was not giving. I finally took my chopsticks, digging into the noodle bowl, savouring the flavour of it. It was surprisingly good, definitely better than I would have thought. Of course, I decided against eating the egg, not a big fan of them.

"Wow, this is really good!" I shouted, startling both the boys sitting beside me. I slurped the last of the noodles up and drank the broth, slamming the bowl down. "How have you never been here before?" Itachi asked me, seriously surprised. I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess I never had anyone to go with." He just blinked.

"Me and Shisui go here all the time." I slowly turned to face him. "And you never invited me?" I let one tear slide down my face, catching him off guard. "We could never find you when we did!" he quickly answered, trying to save himself.

"Oh! Then you probably went when I was trying out my new technique." I said, switching back to my happy self. "That's alright then. But next time, you have to bring me along!" Itachi nodded with a small smile, making me smile in return. I had to admit that he was kind of a cute kid, no lie there. He didn't smile too often either, and when he did, it was kind of contagious.

The other two finished shortly after, and we set off again, splitting up to go to our respective homes. When Itachi and I had walked through the door, no one was to be found. Fugaku must have been busy with the multitude of police work he had to do, and Mikoto was probably out with Kushina with Sasuke and Naruto. The two of them were really inseparable.

I stepped out to the backyard, sitting under the one small cherry blossom tree that sat in one corner of the yard. I sprawled out, getting comfortable in the somewhat long grass of the yard, closing my eyes and letting the sun bath over me, the warm feeling making me sleepy.

When I woke up, I felt something warm but wet washing over my arm. I opened one eye slightly, trying to see who was doing it. "If you don't wash your cuts up after you get them, they are going to get infected." the curly haired boy said from beside me.

"Eh, I've gotten skin infections before. No big deal if you've got medicine to help it." I answered. He let out a small laugh. "Exactly. Only if you have the medicine. If you didn't, we would have to cut off your arm and you would never be able to be a kunoichi ever again." I only laughed at him.

"Just because I'm missing a limb doesn't mean I can't be a kick ass ninja. I could replace it with my iron sand, or get a puppet arm." His eyebrows rose at the last suggestion. "A puppet arm? Where would you get one of those?" I shrugged my shoulders and sat up. "Suna of course. I knew _someone_ who could do it, but not anymore." I muttered the last part, trying to forget the man/puppet thing that killed my father.

"That's pretty cool." he commented quietly. "Eh, not as cool as you'd think. Anyway, how much longer are you going to hold my arm?" I glanced at his hand, which, despite being done cleaning and wrapping my cut, had not let go. His eyes went wide and his face red. I smirked at him, getting really close to his face. "Why are you blushing, Shisui?" I said slyly, imitating the first time we met.

He looked away, crossing his arms and puffing his cheeks out. "I'm not blushing!" he protested. "I think you are, though." I said, poking his cheeks. "I will fight you! I'm not blushing!" he sprung up, his fist out and punching the air. I laughed at him, watching his tiny show.

"You would fight a seven year old?" I asked innocently. He stopped, giving me a stink eye. "You know how to fight. Besides, we're the same rank." I got up and poked him in the chest. "Yeah, I know. You need to step up your game." His jaw dropped at my comment. "Hey! We're going to do the chunin exams next month! I'd like to see you guys make it in."

"You know we just formed our team two days ago, so no, we're not going to be there. In fact, since you'll be so busy doing the exams, we'll be doing _your_ missions, since we got bumped up to doing C-ranks." I said, proudly boasting. "Whatever, after the exams, when I'm a _chunin,_ I'll be doing B-ranks, or even A's." I waved my hand. "Cool story, tell me another." I said dismissively.

"Yeah, I guess when your team fails, mine will be sent as backup to show you how it's really done." I paused for a moment. Did he know who was actually on my team? "You _do_ know that Itachi is on my team right? And Maen Nara. He's pretty smart." I could see the wheels turning in his head. Albeit very slowly, but they were going.

"Itachi's on your team?" He finally asked. I nodded with a small smile of victory. "Huh, maybe you won't need my help then."

"Yeah, we won't need your help…" I processed what he said, now actually offended. "Hey! Are you saying that I'm not good enough?!" He jumped at the accusation. "No! No! That's not what I meant!" He panicked, waving his hands in defence. "Shisui you little turd!" I yelled before jumping him, pulling him to the ground and started punching him. Not _hard,_ mind you, but still punching with a bit of force.

"Take it back!" I shouted, a big smile on my face. "Or I'm gonna take your lunch money!" He blocked most of my punches, only letting a few get through. "No! Not my lunch money! Anything but that!" he hollered back, shoving his hand in my face. "Oh god, Shisui! One of your fingers went up my nose!" I yelled at him, trying to get his hand out of my face.

"Sacrifices must be made!" he cried out, fake tears running down his face. "Oh my god, stop!" I demanded, putting my foot on his face and pushing away. "Ow! Hey that's not fair! I'm not using my feet!"

"Yeah?! Well my finger isn't up your stupid nose! I can arrange that with my big toe, though!" I lifted my foot in the air, shaking my shoe off then going right back to his face. "Oh. My. God. Your feet smell really bad!" I cackled, "Yeah, I had training today. You like it?!" I shook my other shoe off, and now had both feet on his face.

"Ok, now I'm crying from the smell." I laughed, getting off of him, and removing his finger from my nose. "Now you'll think twice before taking me on." He waved his hand in front of his nose, trying to get the smell away from his face. "You're the one who jumped me. Just making that clear." I shrugged my shoulders, then scratched my nose, trying to get the feeling out of it.

"I was wondering who was yelling out here. Now that I know, I'm not surprised." Mikoto said from the doorway, Sasuke in her arms. "Hi Aunt Mikoto!" Shisui said sheepishly. I just waved to her, a big innocent smile on my face. "Get in here you two, I made some snacks, but you have to share. We have a guest over." I looked at the older boy, an eyebrow raised. He shrugged his shoulders, and we both headed in.

Sitting at the table were Kushina and Naruto, both munching away at the rice balls that sat in front of them. Kushina turned when she heard us enter the room, and her eyes brightened when they set themselves on me. "You're the one who saved me and Naruto!" she practically shouted with joy. Mikoto looked over at me questioningly, and both Itachi's and Shisui's eyebrows jumped up. I sat down nervously, grabbing one of the sticks of dango.

"Suchiru, what's she talking about?" I scratched my head, laughing nervously. "When the Nine tails attacked, I kinda helped them…?" Kushina let out a hearty laugh. "Helped us? You saved our lives!" My face started going red, "You're exaggerating, Kushina." she only shook her head. "No, she really did. While I was trying to seal him, she shielded us with some sort of metal! It was super cool!" Mikoto's face went from surprise to somewhat disappointed, most likely because I used my iron sand in front of other people.

"Sorry." I said, my voice muffled now that my face was against the table. Kushina slapped my back, and I cringed. "Oops, sorry. Didn't mean to hit you that hard." I nodded, and continued stuffing my face back into the table, trying to hide my embarrassment. "Well then I guess we should be thankful, should we not? She also assisted Fugaku if I'm not mistaken." Mikoto said out of nowhere, and Kushina clapped. "That's fantastic! You're going to be a fine kunoichi one day!" I bowed quickly, thanking her. It was strange, being thanked for something like that. I was only doing what I thought was right.

"Well, let's dig in, shall we?"

….

I stood in the training grounds, a bunch of weapons laid out in front of me. "Pick one out. We'll try and find one that suits you." Shibi sensei told me, and I put my finger on my chin, trying to choose between them. My eyes settled on the tanto, the hilt wrapped in black and brown leather. I picked it up, testing the weight in my hands, and took a few swings.

"That suits you well. You play with close range combat; it's a good weapon for you." I nodded to him, and he picked up one of the other short swords. "Now you will face me." I jumped at his words, somewhat hesitant to face a clan head. "There's nothing to be worried about, I'm not going to be going all out on you." I nodded hesitantly, but stepped up to him.

We both bowed, and I held the tanto out in front of me. "You have to swing it." Shibi sensei noted. "I know, I know. I'm just not used to using swords." I said, testing the weight again. I moved forward, bringing it down in an arc, only to have it deflected. "Move faster, swing harder." I nodded again, and started to actually try and use the weapon. I moved my feet, bobbing left and right, attempting to hit sensei, only to be parried each time. I grabbed the sword with both hands, charging in and swinging viciously at him, trying to get at least one hit.

He parried again, but grabbed my wrist. "You're being too hasty with it. Calm down, and try again." I let out a huff, and took a deep breath. I thought for a moment before going back in. Most of the sword play I've seen in my previous life was fencing, given that one of my old friends used to do it. Then I thought back to one specific tournament that was freestyle. Their moved looked somewhat like ballroom dancing. Mikoto showed me some dance moves before, not exactly ballroom, but sort of similar. I'd just have to incorporate some slick dance moves into this.

I got back into position, only having one hand on my tanto, and the left one by my side, ready to assist in any movement I may do. I moved forward, swinging my sword to the left, then twirling under it and going right. I stabbed forward, almost getting him, only to have him parry me again. I used the force of his parry and twirled right, slashing and stabbing again, close to swiping him. I smiled widely, noticing how much easier it was, now that I was getting the movement down.

We continued on for another couple hours, him telling me what I need to improve and what I was doing well. By the end of the day, it was decided that the tanto would be the weapon for me, and he gave me a sheath for it. It sat horizontally on my back, attached to the belt that sat just below my chest. I thanked him, and then rushed home to show Itachi my new weapon, knowing that he would eventually get a sword of some sort himself.

….

The next two days went by with nothing special happening. Itachi was out training the first, and Shisui was out on missions with his own team, so I was stuck spending time with Fugaku, training my elements and practicing taijutsu, with him trying to incorporate the Uchiha fighting style into my boxing style, which also helped with training with my tanto. The Uchiha fighting style was smooth like the Hyuuga, but also had force behind it, since they didn't use the chakra points for attacking.

But unfortunately, I haven't exactly gotten my speed up to where Fugaku wanted it. So he added weights to my wrists and ankles. _'Unless you get up to speed where you were without these, you're not taking them off.'_ I can't believe this. So today, when I have to train with Itachi, which I did yesterday anyway, I now have to have these weights on top of trying to keep up with the already incredibly fast Uchiha.

So the training consisted of us trying out different attack combos, and every time we started one off, my speed was overestimated, and we would mess up. But luckily for me, our messing up consisted of me getting punched in the face, or running into various objects, like kunai, shuriken, and the occasional fireball.

"Okay, I think I'm done with today." I said to the boy standing in front of me, one hand on his hip, the other rubbing where his headband had been moments ago. "Yeah, I don't think we are getting anywhere with this." I grabbed my head yelling out in frustration. "Why can't I go any faster?!" Itachi smiled at me, and it wasn't one of those nice smiles. It was sickeningly sweet.

"What." I demanded. "Well, you could always just run in the morning. That would get your speed up." I scowled at him. "Or just training in general. Like pushups, situps, and the like." So he was pretty much asking me to be like Lee. "I already do most of that." He just shrugged his shoulders.

"Okay, fine. I'll do it."

….

The next morning I had to get up extra early. I jogged through the village, then when I got back to the house, I sat out in the back, doing one hundred pushups and situps, much to my protesting abs and arms. By the time I had finished, it was nine in the morning, and I was pretty much late for my training session with Maen.

I rushed over to training ground four, finding the boy sitting under a tree with his arms crossed and eyes closed. I walked over to Maen, knocking his feet to get him up. "C'mon, we have to get started." He groaned in protest, but got up anyway.

Our teamwork training consisted of trapping objects and letting me go in for the kill, and him putting me through memory training so that if he told me a plan, I would remember it. Not too difficult, but it involved him hitting me over the head for getting something wrong. It kind of reminded me of training with Kakuzu, and I'm sure I'll have the bruises and bumps to prove it.

And then by the end of the day, we both sat under a tree, me leaning on his shoulder, the two of us fast asleep.

….

Today was the first day we would be putting our week worth of training together. Shibi sensei gave us five minutes to come up with a plan, and I left that to the boys. They were definitely better at that than me. I was just the muscle.

"I hope you guys don't actually expect us to beat him today." Maen spoke up after finishing the plan. I shrugged my shoulders, showing my indifference. "Of course not. We can't solve the question if we don't have all the variables." Itachi answered. I nodded, "Yeah, since we only know what typical Aburame clansmen can do, and not him specifically, we'll have to go off of what we learn each week." The two of them nodded, and we stood up to face our opponent.

Itachi immediately jumped away to the tree line, concealing his chakra. I ran after Shibi sensei, throwing my punches left and right, trying to keep the attention on me. Maen stayed back, observing, trying to analyze sensei's movements. Of course, I wasn't keeping up to where I wanted to, and had considered taking the weights off, but I knew if I did, I'd probably forget them here and then get an earful from Fugaku when I got home.

I unsheathed my tanto, starting to attack him with that, forcing him to take out a kunai. This way, if he took his focus off of me even for a second, I would have a chance to swipe and do a bit of damage. I twirled and flipped, putting on a bigger show than I had to. I knew he wasn't serious, but that was alright. That's where his downfall would be.

My blade was flung from my hand, landing a few feet away from me. I backflipped once, grabbing a kunai from my pouch and flinging it towards him. He easily deflected it, but by the time he had, I was bent backwards, making a bridge.

Maen, right on cue, took his chance and used his shadow possession, using my shadow to get the length he needed to reach Shibi sensei. This was also taking a big risk if he didn't get him, 'cause I was going to be stuck until he released it. And that's exactly what happened. Sensei saw this coming, and easily jumped out of the way. I panicked when I saw a shadow come over me, but sighed in relief when it was chased away from our teammate.

"Oh my god, thank you Itachi." I said, getting up after being released. I sensed someone stand next to me. "Well, that didn't go exactly as planned." Maen said, somewhat disappointed, as we watched the Uchiha spar with our sensei. "I'm not too surprised, to be honest. You couldn't have expected it to work the first time we faced off against him." He shrugged his shoulders, and we both winced as Itachi got kicked away from the older man. He recovered quickly, going back in for more.

"We'll just have to take a few mental notes when we are doing some one on one with him. Pick up on the way he moves, the way he uses his weapons, and twitches he might have before attacking." Maen explained to me, and I nodded along, showing I understood. I took a step forward, rolling my sleeves up to my elbows and cracking my knuckles.

"Itachi! Let's do it!" I yelled over the clanging of kunai. He jumped out quickly, standing beside me. We both formed signs as quickly as possible, trying to make it difficult to tell what we doing. Itachi jumped up, puffing out his chest. I crouched lower, swallowing as much air as I could.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

"Futon: Kazekiri no Jutsu!"

The fireball was aimed downwards, hitting the ground. My wind cutter jutsu went right through the explosion of flames, taking on the attribute and heading right for Shibi sensei. Maen came up between us, using earth style to create a shield of dirt to cover us from the heat. We all took cover behind it, hearing the blast of a powered up fire attack connecting.

We all froze when we felt a presence behind us. We slowly turned to see Shibi sensei, two kunai pointed at the boys and a swarm of bugs behind me. "Never take your eyes off of your opponent unless absolutely necessary. Fail."

I just sat there, eyes wide, looking at the cloud of bugs behind me. I jumped up as quickly as I could running from them, screaming. "Oh my god keep them away from me!" I ran through the river that separated us from the main street of the village and stood on the other side. The other three looked at me questioningly, and I shook my head.

"I'm not a fan of bugs! Unless they're bees, they're ok. But not those!" I said, waving my hands around and combing out my hair, making sure nothing got in it. _'The only downside of long hair. They could be anywhere.'_ I shuddered at the thought, continuing to brush it out then moved to my clothes, patting them down.

They all sighed, not bothering to argue with me, the now seemingly crazy teammate. Unknowingly to me though, Shibi sensei was coming up with a plan to get me over my phobia, and I was _not_ going to like it.

….

Okay, so we will be getting to more Shisui action soon, I think about maybe one more chapter of this team being the center of attention. Please be patient with me!


	7. Chapter 7

"This is your last chance." Shibi sensei spoke, the three of us lined up in front of him. We all nodded in unison, and he jumped away. We turned to each other, formulating a plan of attack and a second one should it fail.

"Ugh," Maen started. "I can't believe this is the last chance we have to beat him before I can't become a chunin." The last chunin exams before Maen's sixteenth birthday was coming up, and if we couldn't beat Shibi sensei today, then he was S.O.L., and Itachi and I would never hear the end of it. The oldest of our team had already become a bit sour in the last year, being the last in our class besides us to become a chunin, _and_ having to deal with two younger kids. I apologized an umpteenth amount of times, pointing out that we were also assigned the higher ranked missions anyway.

"We have been getting closer though. Just remember that since a year ago, Shibi sensei has had to go almost all out on us. We know that he won't use his full power because he doesn't want to kill us, but that doesn't mean we can hold back. He can handle a few genin, even of our calibre." Itachi told him, reminding both of us what's actually going on. It was true though, with the fact that on our missions, typically Shibi sensei would let us do the work, but when shit got serious, so did he. Comparing him when we were on our missions then comparing him to when we were training, it was a bit off.

And as we watched him, we grew. It was amazing, watching a fully trained jonin fight against your enemies, _real time_ and _right in front of you_. Definitely ten times more amazing than watching on some T.V. The three of us were pretty much the definition of a perfect team, too. We knew how each other fought in battle, anything one did, the other two planned accordingly, and we were able to dispatch many threats. We've also grown to tolerate one another, the oldest actually somewhat enjoying spending time with the two of us, and vice versa.

Our jutsu libraries grew, and we came up with multiple joint jutsu's as well. Shibi sensei and Maen still were unaware of my kekkei genkai, still under the impression that I was an Uchiha, and a late bloomer with the sharingan. I felt bad about lying to the two of them, of course. But I didn't have a choice; Fugaku _and_ the Hokage made that quite clear.

I sighed through my nose. "Alright. Let's do this then. No going back and we only go forward together." I said, putting my fist out for the other two to add theirs. They nodded, bumping their fists with mine, and we stood up, all facing the forest that surrounded us. We all handed each other one of our special kunai, made to hold our chakra so that we would be able to tell where anyone of us is at any time we needed.

And with that we jumped off, Itachi taking the lead, Maen in the middle and myself bringing up the rear. This formation was chosen because of Itachi's sharingan, able to pacify anyone who dare take us head on, Maen's shadow stitching technique, and I brought up the rear to be able to get enough speed and strength up to totally incapacitate. It was simple, but worked extremely well.

We considered Itachi the leader of our trio. He was the most level headed considered the smartest, and the strongest, so it only seemed fair. Still no mangekyou, which was fine with me, given that the three who were closest to him were Shisui, Sasuke and myself. Speaking of the former, I had also started spending considerably more time with him, now that Itachi had some secret friend he would often go and see, claiming that he had to help someone with 'class work'.

Obviously, Shisui and I hadn't bought that, and went off after him one day when we had nothing better to do. Surprisingly, he never left the compound. In fact, he only went over a few streets before going into another Uchiha house. The two of us immediately scampered out of there, trying to hold in our laughs, now knowing who the boy was going to see almost every other day.

Izumi Uchiha.

Which, I honestly thought weird at first; given that I knew the relationship went one way. So maybe he wasn't fibbing when he told the two of us he was helping her with class work. But, thanks to that, me and Shisui had been able to spend some quality bonding time together, and he taught me how to properly use my tanto, _and,_ to my surprise, how to do the body flicker technique. I was ecstatic when he told me he wanted to teach me. Of course, he claimed that he wanted me to learn something that even Itachi didn't know, so I could be more on par with him.

I couldn't do it properly yet, as when Shisui did it, you would see him flicker where he started, and then where he went to. Me, on the other hand, flickered the whole way through, and could be easily traced. I was getting better, and even he said that I should get it before the exams, which I was unsure, considering they started in a week and a half.

Itachi held a fist up, bringing me back to the present. I stopped beside Maen, crouched and ready to attack if anything popped up. Itachi started making signs, telling us that Shibi sensei was ahead, and to prepare for combat. I reached for my tanto, pulling it out and holding it next to my leg. The Uchiha signalled for me to move in, and I nodded. I flickered out, moving forward through the trees, the other two keeping track of me. My jump stopped above Shibi sensei, giving me the force of gravity to swing my tanto dangerously fast.

He jumped away, leaving a trail of bugs behind, making me swat at them furiously. That's another thing that never happened. My fear of bugs were still as strong as ever, but Shibi sensei's were familiar, so they were a little bit more tolerable. I went after him, trying to keep track of him through the dense forest. I focused my chakra, seeing the other two not far behind me.

We chased after him a good ten minutes before I was told to stop by the boys behind me. I held up on a branch and waited for the other two to catch up. "He's sending his bugs out, but they formed two figures that look just like him." Itachi explained quickly. I nodded understandingly. The good thing was that we planned for something like this. We had observed him these past three years, seeing that he preferred doing things like writing, throwing and eating with his right hand. We decided, hoping that we were right, to go after the one on the right. Most of the things we figured out about him we kept to ourselves, so that he wouldn't have time to adjust to our findings, as so far he hadn't, and continued doing things as he usually did.

"How far away are we, Itachi?" I asked him. "About thirty meters, so keep your guard up." We pressed further, gaining distance on our opponent. We got back into our formation, ready for combat. As we had hoped, we caught up with the real one.

"It seems like you guessed right as to which one was actually me." Shibi sensei spoke, moving his hands upward. All of us tensed, our hands going for our weapons. Itachi and I had our hands on the hilts of our swords, and Maen was getting ready to cast his shadow possession. We stood in the trees, our figures blocked by the leafs, but we knew that he could tell where we were.

"Suchiru." I heard the boy in front whisper. I immediately flickered out, heading right for our sensei. I appeared in front of him, tanto out and ready to move. Shibi quickly brandished a kunai, deflecting my swipe at him. I kept him on his toes, not giving him a chance to escape this encounter. I danced around him, getting a few cuts in on him, but no blood was drawn.

I backed off, sheathing my tanto and grabbing two kunai. I threw one at him, and followed it in to engage him again. I ducked under one of his swipes, bending backwards and using my hands as leverage to kick him into the air. A barrage of kunai came out from where my comrades were hidden, forcing him to deflect them. I bounded after him, using the trees to gain speed and tackle him down, and then quickly bounced away.

Water poured down on him from above the tree line, courtesy of Itachi. I flew through the hand signs for my lightning bandit jutsu, one that I had just recently completed in controlling.

"Kaminari Dorobo no jutsu!"

I clapped my hands above my head and brought them apart, the electricity arcing between the two. I pushed them out in front of me towards the water that Shibi sensei was standing in. The lightning ran through it, electrocuting the poor man. I ran around the puddle itself, making sure not to be caught standing in one place.

I pulled back, trying not to kill him. His body stayed rigid for a moment before dropping to the ground, flashes of lightning still making its rounds through the water. I was joined by the other two, them standing behind me just in case I needed to activate my jutsu again, as the lightning still danced around my hands, waiting for something to happen.

Nothing did.

His body lay motionless in front of us. Maen used his shadow stitching to follow me in just in case anything happened as I crossed the water carefully. I pressed two fingers to his neck, checking for a pulse. It was barely there, so I lifted my fingers and turned to the other two to inform them.

"He has a pulse, but it's weak." But just as I finished my sentence, I was grabbed from behind and a kunai was held to my throat. I tried to struggle against it, but I was only held tighter, drawing a small amount of blood. The boy's eyes went wide, and Maen tried to use his shadow stitching, but Shibi sensei only jumped back.

"If you even think about trying that again I will slit her throat." I swallowed hard, feeling the edge of the kunai on my neck. I looked over to the two, begging them to do something with my eyes. As it currently stood, I couldn't even reach the ground, Shibi sensei's arm around my chest preventing me. I saw Itachi's sharingan spinning dangerously, ready to act if need be.

But it seemed like he already did. Shibi sensei dropped down, sending me sprawling out in front of him, gasping for breath. Itachi was by my side instantly, and Maen went to Shibi sensei, checking him over before nodding to the two of us.

"He's down. Not dead, but I think this is it." He confirmed before moving sensei to sit against a tree, and I leaned against Itachi for support, a lopsided grin on my face. "Hey, at least we'll be going to the chunin exams, right? That's gotta be something."

The boy holding me shook his head. "I understand that you're happy about it, but I think we should be getting you two back to the village." I laughed it off. "Yeah, I suppose for Shibi sensei we should." He rolled his eyes and helped me up. I waved him away, and he hesitantly went over to Maen and helped him carry our sensei.

We jumped through the trees, heading back towards the hospital. We heard some groaning, and all turned our head to our teacher. "Congratulations, you three. You'll be participating in the upcoming chunin exams." I shouted out with joy, while the other two only smiled and thanked him.

When we reached the hospital, Maen assisted sensei in, and Itachi and I hung out outside of the front doors, waiting for him to come back out.

"It's awesome that we finally are able to participate in the chunin exams, right? I mean, it only took us three years to do it, and the other teams got in after like, a couple months." I commented. "Yes, well, we had already been doing chunin ranked missions anyway."

"Pfft, c'mon. You're allowed to be proud, you know. Put down that stupid front that you have and just be happy about it." He looked away for a moment before getting a big grin on his face. It looked somewhat forced, but I'll take what I can get. "Alright, you can stop. _Before_ you scare the children, please." I joked, pointing at the crowd of school kids that walked by in front of us.

"We should really be thanking you though, Suchiru." I blinked, and then looked at him. "What are you talking about? We did it all together, you know. Teamwork?" He shook his head. "You did most of the work, allowing Maen and myself to get into position." I scratched my head, befuddled at his words. "Well you were the one who took him down." I countered.

"I wouldn't have had to use the sharingan if he hadn't had a hold on you. I'm sorry it had to come to that, too." I waved him off quickly, a guilty smile forming on my face. "It's my fault, I wasn't careful enough when I approached him. But hey, it helped us pass our test!" He gave a small smile, and I knew he was a tad guilty about it. It was easy for me to read him most of the time, given I spent most of this life with him. I put a hand on his shoulder. "Please, don't worry about it, I'm fine. You and I both _know_ he wouldn't do anything drastic. I'm sure it was just to see how we'd react to a situation like that." I tried assuring him. His eyes were downcast, and he only nodded. I sighed, not sure how to deal with it.

The doors we sat beside opened, and Maen walked out, followed by Shibi sensei. "Sensei! Are you alright?" I asked him as soon as he stood in front of us. He pushed up his sunglasses, sighing through his nose. "Yes, I'll be fine. Itachi," he redirected. "That's some nasty genjutsu you have. Use it well." The boy in questioned stiffened at first, but relaxed once he realized he was being praised.

"Also," he continued, "here are the papers you need to fill out in order to participate. Have them back to the Hokage before tonight." We nodded, and he handed us our papers. I rushed into the hospital, eagerly asking for a pen. The receptionist passed me one with a slight smile on her face, and I dashed back outside, the other two still there while sensei was nowhere to be found. I placed my papers against the wall, writing down all the required information before passing the pen to Itachi, who instead used my back as a table. Maen finished soon after he, and we were off to the Hokage's office.

"Why don't you let me hold your papers, Suchiru." Itachi asked, trying to grab the documents in my hands. "No! I can do it!" I protested, pulling the papers away from him. "Your papers are going to be all wrinkled if you keep doing that." He pulled me to a stop, and took the delicate sheets from my fists, smoothing out the sides. He pushed my back lightly, getting me back into motion.

"I'm sorry. I am just _extremely_ excited for the exams. I have been looking forward to this since we became genin." I apologized, trying to reign in my excitement. But it's true, I was excited. Not only for becoming a chunin, but to see where the exams were being held. I know that it's possible to be held in two places at once, so it's possible to see two different countries that I haven't been to.

We entered the building, walking past our old classrooms. I peeked in a few, seeing the newbies learning, and some fast asleep. We climbed the stairs, walking past the guards and standing in front of the Hokage's door.

"Alright, so we gotta do this nice and clean, professional. No laughing, no coughing, no nothin'!" I told the other two, bracing myself to knock on the door. A fist reached over my head, knocking on the door before I had a chance. I glared at the teen behind me, and he only shrugged with a smirk. We heard the Hokage allow us in, and I reached for the doorknob, only to be beat by the Uchiha. He held up a finger to his lips, telling me to be quiet when we went in. I crossed my arms, pouting.

"Hokage sama," Itachi spoke, bowing. I got a hand on the back of my head, making me bow before I could myself. I let out a slight growl, only to be forced back up by the same person. I looked over, expecting to see Maen, except I didn't.

"Hatake Kakashi, to what do I owe the pleasure?" The Hokage spoke, a smile on his face. He only prodded his thumb at my team before Hiruzen sighed. "Ah yes. What can I do for you three?" he turned his attention to us. Itachi produced the papers for him, my crinkled one on the bottom. Hiruzen looked through them, raising his eyebrows.

"You are Aburame Shibi's team? This is good then; we've been waiting some time for you to enter the chunin exams. Are you three ready?" We nodded. "That's good. The first and second part of the exam will be held in Iwagakure. The finale will be held here in Konoha." We nodded again, though I had a big grin on my face. "Don't forget, you must be there- in Iwagakure- for next week. It takes at least three days travel." he told us, waving his finger. We nodded one last time before being dismissed. We quickly made our way out of the tower, stopping when we reached the streets of Konoha.

"This is gonna be sick!" I said, pumping both fists in the air. "It will be something, alright." Maen droned, no excitement in his tone whatsoever. I glared at him, and stalked right up to his face. "Hey! This is what you wanted right? Not to be dead-last in your class to become chunin?" He glanced down at me, promptly pushing my face out of his personal bubble.

"With you, I won't have to worry about that." I gave him the most offended look I could muster up. "Anyway," he continued, "I'm going home. I don't want to see either of you until we leave." he said to us, waving lazily behind him. I stuck my tongue out at his back, and then turned to the boy beside me.

"So, what are we gonna do?" He shrugged his shoulders before beginning to walk off in the direction of the compound. I followed beside him, looking around the village, trying to think of something to do. Most of the time I was training, eating, sleeping or on a mission, so I didn't have much free space in my schedule. And when I did, I would usually go to our regular training field, the one by the Naka River, and sit by the edge of the cliff and think about things.

My sleeve was pulled, forcing me out of my thoughts. I looked to Itachi, seeing that he was pointing at the Senbei shop, where Teyaki and Uruchi were sitting outside of, waving the two of us down. I smiled and waved back as we made our way over to the two shop owners.

"How are the two of you? We haven't seen ya in quite a while." Teyaki commented, handing us our regular treats, a package of their famed senbei. We both thanked them. "We've been out on missions and training, so we haven't been around a lot." Itachi told them and I nodded. "And we get to go in the next chunin exams!" I exclaimed proudly, almost dropping my bag.

Uruchi clapped. "That's wonderful! The two of you are so skilled; you'll pass it, no doubt!" I nodded eagerly, while Itachi thanked her once again, and we moved on. We made our way back to the house, where Mikoto was playing with Sasuke, who was now a whopping four years old. We waved at them as we made our way over, Sasuke giving the both of us hugs before snatching the bag out of my hand.

"Hey brat! That's mine!" I said, shaking my fist at him and chasing him through the yard as he giggled like a madman. Man, this kid was growing like a freakin' weed. Fugaku had already started training with him, like he did with the two of us. He was already proving to be incredibly smart, picking up on almost everything that was taught to him immediately. I would often help with his lessons too, especially when Fugaku was busy with the police station work. Sometimes Itachi would be there too, but he had been all over the place lately, probably with Izumi. More often than not it was just Sasuke and I, and occasionally Shisui.

I was just about to grab him when his older brother swooped in and saved the day. Sasuke stuck his tongue out at me, eating the senbei in front of me. I glared at the child, "You are one spoiled kid." Sasuke only smiled brightly and continued eating my food. I sighed, and took a seat next to Mikoto, who handed me Itachi's bag. I grabbed a few biscuits from the bag before handing back.

"So you two are home a little later than normal. How did training go?" Mikoto asked me, as the two boys were preoccupied by their treats. I quickly swallowed the food in my mouth. "Really well. We get to participate in the chunin exams that are in like, a week. _And_ they take part in Iwagakure. At least the first two parts, anyway. The finals will be held here." She nodded, a happy smile on her face, glad that both Itachi and I had gotten in.

"When do you two leave then? It's not a small trek." She asked me. "I'm assuming probably tomorrow or the day after." She nodded again, and then looked over to the two boys. "Hey Sasuke, did you hear that? Itachi and Suchiru are going to the chunin exams next week." Sasuke's face brightened up immediately upon hearing it. "I knew they would! Itachi is the strongest shinobi ever! And Suchiru isn't far behind!" I laughed at his remark, knowing that I would never trump his older brother.

I ruffled the kid's hair, making him puff his cheeks. "Well, when Itachi and I get into the finals, you can watch us kick some butt!" He turned to Itachi, attempting to confirm my statement. "I don't think that the finals are a place for a four year old, Suchiru." Itachi scolded. My shoulders slumped and I gave an exhausted look. "Oh my god Itachi, you're such a buzz kill." I immediately turned to Sasuke, slinging an arm around his shoulder and bringing him in close to me. "Don't worry, little man. I'll getcha in." I whispered, making him smile evilly towards his older brother.

"You two are trouble together. We need to separate you." Mikoto said with a gentle smile on her face. Sasuke and I clung to each other desperately. "No! You can't!" we both pleaded in unison. She only giggled at the two of us before ushering us into the house. "Come on now, it's time to clean up before dinner."

….

We left the day after our final test, reaching Iwagakure in four days. The trip had gotten progressively harder as we got closer, the terrain becoming foreign very quickly after we had crossed the border.

We walked up to the village gates, Shibi sensei producing our now Hokage signed documents, and they let us pass, directing us to the hotel that we would be staying in. As we walked throughout the village, there was a certain mood set upon the people. It felt way more militaristic than Konoha, or even Sunagakure. They all held an air of what seemed to be authority? Or maybe that kind of 'I'm better than you' attitude, especially when they glanced at us.

Everything was made out of stone, as if they carved everything down to make the buildings and streets. The Tsuchikage's building rose up above every other structure, making it visible from everywhere you stood. What made it even cooler is that they used the surrounding mountain range as a sort of wall around the village, and you could see a few waterfalls escaping out of the many cracks.

We made our way to the hotel, which when we entered, found many other shinobi from other countries standing in the lobby. I looked around excitedly, checking to see if there was anyone I recognized. Nobody stood out immediately, but I did see two groups of Suna genin, but was then ushered away by Shibi sensei as he held the key to our room.

We were on the second floor, at the end of the hallway. Not as bad as being on the seventh, given that unlike my last life, there were no elevators. Our room consisted of three rooms, one for Shibi sensei, one for Maen (being the oldest he got his own), and Itachi and I had a room that had two single beds in it. I claimed the one on the right, throwing my things on it as soon as we entered our room.

After setting all of our things away, we met up in the living area of the suite, only to see Shibi sensei looking around.

"Sensei, what are you looking for?" I asked him, taking a seat on the couch that sat next to a sliding door that led outside. "Any kind of chakra signature, seals, or barriers. We don't need anyone spying on us." I made an 'o' face, understanding his actions. He turned up empty handed, to our relief. He mentioned that we could walk around the village, just not to get lost and to be back before sundown. Maen elected to stay behind, and Itachi decided to join me on a tour of the village.

"We should stay relatively close to the hotel, so we don't get lost." Itachi told me, but I only waved him off. "Ehh, we'll be fine, don't worry. I'm super good with directions." I said confidently, earning a questioning look from the boy. "Do not comment on that, please." He only smiled. I turned back to walk the roads, looking over the unique structure of the village. Most of the buildings had shops on the bottom, with (what I assumed) the housing above it.

We made our way to the Tsuchikage's tower, and like our own, the academy was housed below it. It was still midday, so the children were outside practicing their fighting skills and with their weapons. I looked around the yard, looking for a particular blonde, but turned up empty handed.

Or so I thought.

"Who are you?" I heard a voice demand from behind me. Itachi and I both turned around, looking at the boy who seemed to be only a few years younger than us. I waved my hand quickly, "Hi! My name is Suchiru! What's your name?" He glared at me, unimpressed by my enthusiasm.

"Deidara." He stated simply, crossing his arms and looking the two of us over. "Where are you from?" I blinked, but answered. "Konoha. We're here for the chunin exams." He only smirked at us before turning away. "You guys are gonna get your asses kicked." I laughed at his comment, only to get him to glare at me. "Sorry, sweetie. If we couldn't handle ourselves we wouldn't be here."

Itachi quickly grabbed my hand and dragged me away from the academy. "You can't just go and rile up the locals." He scolded. I put my hands behind my head, "Yeah, well they shouldn't start shit then." he gave me a disappointed look. "First of all," he said, holding up one finger, "language. And second of all, we are guests here, and thus we must act like it."

"You always ruin my fun. Loosen up a bit, Itachi." He shook his head dismissively. "I would, but this is not exactly the place to do so."

….

"These chunin exams will be run a bit different than they have in the past." The Tsuchikage told us, standing on a pillar in front of the sixteen different squads. "There will be no written portion. You should have had enough of that in the academy. This exam will focus primarily on action and strategy. The first part of the exam you will be pitted against another squad, both racing towards the same objective, and will have to bring it back to your starting point. Only, you will have to leave one person behind, as a command center. This focuses on communication on your team, and teamwork when one is missing. The rosters are on that billboard over there." He told us, pointing to a large board to the left of the stage. "You need to be at your starting points in thirty minutes. Dismissed." And with that, he flew off, leaving us scrambling towards the multitude of papers that were posted.

I jumped through the crowd, leaving my team behind to see where we were posted. I only had enough time to see that we were placed _at the top of the Tsuchikage's building…?_ Interesting. I pushed my way back out, and met back up with Maen and Itachi.

"So, apparently our station is at the top of the Tsuchikage's building. I didn't get a look at who we are facing, so we need to be prepared." They both nodded, and we made our way to the tower, and stood at the bottom, looking up.

"So, the tallest building in the village is ours." Maen stated, and I nodded, shielding my eyes from the sun. "So, do we just climb up? Or is there a way up inside?" We all turned when we heard footsteps behind us. An Iwagakure jonin stood in front of us, holding a sheet out. Itachi took it silently, looking it over.

"You guys can go up any way you want to. I'll be the one looking over you guys as you do this portion of the exam." He told us before teleporting to the top. We looked at each other before shrugging our shoulders and jumping up there ourselves. When we reached the top, the jonin handed us wireless radios. We placed them around our necks, moving the wires and placing the ear piece in. "Your channel is thirty-four. This is your only form of communication between each other. Also, one person will be staying behind, relaying communications and any information they may receive." We nodded in understanding. "I will also be here to ensure that no cheating takes place, such as making sure that whoever stays behind actually stays here, or that nothing illegal is being used."

The jonin sighed, pushing his brown locks out of his face. "Alright, please decide who is staying behind." He asked us, and we turned to each other. "I'll stay behind; it's easier for me to see anybody coming up on you two." Itachi told Maen and I, fixing his radio so we could hear him properly. "Works for me." I told him, giving him a thumbs up to signal we could hear him. We exchanged our chakra absorbed kunai, and waited for further instructions.

"Your objective is up there." The jonin told us, pointing to a high cliff that had a waterfall coming down in front of it. "It is a scroll that is in a black pouch. Your mission is to grab it as quickly as possible and return it to this location. Clear?" We nodded, and got into position. Itachi sat near the peak of the roof, facing the direction of the mountain, and Maen and I stood on the edge of the roof, waiting for the starting signal.

A loud air horn like noise echoed through the village, making me jump. Itachi nodded to us, and Maen and I jumped off, using the rooftops of the other building to reach the mountain. _"Can you two hear me clearly?"_ Itachi asked us through the headset. "Yeah, loud and clear." I responded. _"Alright. You have the other group incoming from your two o'clock. They seemed to be a bit faster than you, so you'll probably have to grab them on their way out."_ He informed us, and I looked over in the direction he mentioned. Sure enough, they were there.

Two males, from Iwa, going right for our objective. _"How far can your lightning reach, Suchiru?"_ Itachi asked me. I radioed back in, "About fifty feet, why?" Maen smirked. "He wants you to use it on the waterfall, making it almost impossible to get out." I performed the seals, and the electricity formed around my hands. "Then that's what I will do."

Maen and I stood the fifty feet away, and I thrusted my hands forward, the lightning darting out for the waterfall. It connected, and the lightning danced up the water, putting on quite the light show. We both smirked at my handiwork, and started to scale the mountainside.

"Itachi, can you see anything?" Maen called in. It was a few moments before he got back to us. _"They've closed off the entrance. They are going to wait until you go in, so that they can attack."_ I growled slightly, trying to think of a way past this predicament. "I could always open it back up, but I'm not sure I'll be able to get by the water without getting hurt." Maen stated, and I thought for a moment. "Hang on, let me do something." I said quickly before taking out two kunai. I threw them beside the waterfall, one above the entrance and one below.

"Now, if this works out the way I think it should, we can get in." I told him, making my hand signs again. I waved my hands over the water, conducting the lightning and directing it towards the kunai. The lightning travelled towards it, and then to the mountain side, which cancelled it out. I gave a thumbs up to the boy beside me. "Hopefully they'll think that the lightning is still running through it, and won't jump out. Let's do this."

Maen made his hand signs and slapped the rocks with them, opening the passage with them. We wasted no time in getting in the cave, me brandishing my tanto while Maen stood behind me, immediately using his shadow possession to capture our enemies. One was caught, but the other jumped out of the way, taking the bag with him. I ran after him quickly, swinging my tanto and cutting him several times. He performed signs for the fireball technique and with Maen using his shadow possession he was in trouble if I dodged it.

I flickered back quickly, and made signs myself. _'Doton: Doryuheki!'_ A rock wall erupted in front of me, shielding the two of us from the fire, while still being able to maintain the shadow possession. As soon as the fire disappeared, I flickered back out, taking on the user once again. He quickly took out a kunai, trying to counter me, but he was slower than I was. I dodged under his blade, and then delivered a swift kick to his abdomen, sending him flying into the wall of the cave. I ran up to him quickly, grabbing the bag from his hands. On my way to Maen, I slashed the calves of his captive, making sure there was no way of him coming after us.

"Maen, I got the bag, let's go." He released his jutsu, and the boy he had captured collapsed with a cry. I threw the bag to Maen, who attached it to his hip. We exited the cave and radioed in. "Itachi, we have the objective. We're heading back." _"Affirmative. I'll watch for any movement from the cave."_ Came his response, and we were off. We slid down the mountain, gaining speed before jumping out into the village again. I looked up to the Tsuchikage's tower, seeing Itachi's figure standing by the edge waiting for us to return.

" _Someone's coming after you. Suchiru, dispatch of him. Maen, get back here, asap."_ The boy informed us. I glanced behind me, seeing the shinobi I took the bag from. I scoffed, throwing a few shuriken, only for him to deflect them and throw his own. I took out my tanto, getting rid of the weapons quickly. I landed on the roof below me, waiting for him to sail over me. When he did, I jumped up and tackled him, bringing him down into the streets below. We landed, scaring a few civilians.

"Get out of here! Quickly!" I shouted at them, and they scrambled away as quickly as they could. Our brawl suddenly became a lot more violent. My opponent wasn't using the finesse he was before. He was going all out reckless, but it was working. He was cutting my arms left and right, and I was doing the same. Blood sprayed the streets, and I kicked him away quickly before he could do more damage.

"Itachi, Maen! Status update!" I asked quickly, then dodged his fists, and delivered a few punches of my own. _"Maen arrived. Get out of there now."_ Itachi demanded quickly. The Iwa shinobi came after me again, and I flickered behind him and slashed at his thighs, though I only got one. I jumped out hastily, almost missing the roof of the building above me. I started the trek back to the meeting point, and grimaced at the stinging of my wounds. I scaled the side of the tower, reaching the edge of the roof and hoisting myself up.

"Suchiru, are you alright?" Came the worried voice of Itachi as he ran up to me, looking at my arms. "Yeah, nothing too bad. I'll live." I told him as sat down. He produced a roll of bandages from his own pack, and took the water bottle out of Maen's hand and washing my cuts. "Itachi, I'll be fine, you don't have to be so worried." I said to him, trying to get him to calm down. "We don't know when the next part of the exam will be, so it's better to be prepared than not." Sighing, I sat still and let him fuss over me.

"Alright," The Iwa jonin started, "You'll need to go to the same square you were in before the exam started. That's where all the passing teams will be gathering." We acknowledge him and left. When we arrived, only one other team had joined, and they were from Kiri. I only recognized one of them as Mangetsu Hozuki, older brother to Suigetsu. He seemed to be only a few years older than I.

"Good. You passed." I turned to see Shibi sensei, arms crossed and looking at the three of us. We all stood straight and bowed. "Of course we did. Did you really expect anything different?" I asked him, before he shook his head no. "No I didn't. If you didn't pass, I would have been extremely disappointed." I only gave a big smile and a thumbs up, before I noticed a tall figure approaching behind him, and gasped at the sight of the individual. Kisame Hoshigaki, in all his blue glory.

"So these are your students then, Shibi?" Kisame asked, a sly smirk on his face. "Ooooooh my god!" I practically screamed. "Kisame Hoshigaki?!" I started jumping in place, my hands covering my face trying to hide the excitement, but failing miserably. He scratched the back of his head nervously. "Uh, yes?" The noises I made were all incoherent. Hands were placed on my shoulders, trying to get me to calm down. I turned around, facing Itachi. "Do you understand who this is?" I hissed at him. His face became red with our closeness. "We are standing in front of a _legend._ "

"Suchiru, calm down please." Shibi sensei told me, pushing his glasses up. I took a deep breath, and expelled it through my nose, calming down, at least on the outside. I walked up to Kisame, bowing in front of him. "It is an honour to meet you." He laughed nervously, "Yeah, thanks kid." I stood up again, smiling sweetly. "Also, a few words of advice. Stay away from strange men in masks." I whispered to him, making sure no one else could hear me. He raised an eyebrow at my remark. "I'll try?" he answered me before going back to his team of genin.

….

A few more hours went by before the other teams arrived, and in total, there were eight teams. The Tsuchikage arrived, giving another speech about what getting past the first round meant, and now we'd be moving onto the secondary round. It consisted of the same concept as the Konoha one I remembered, random name generator, and pitting the two against each other. He then informed us that the finals would be held in Konoha, given their arena here was under construction.

We were lead outside of the village, into a small arena like area that had different levels of stone that looked like a staircase, only steeper. We lined up again, and were told the rules. Which were non-existent. It was pretty much kill or be killed, unless your opponent gave up. Anyone who wanted to leave was allowed, which no one did. There was an even amount of kids, so it would be nice and clean, no one had to battle twice. The first names came up, and none of our team was displayed, so we retreated to the steps to watch.

….

It had been four fights before someone on our team was called to fight. Maen was first up against another shinobi from Iwa. He won easily, the kid weakened by the preliminary round. It was a shame too; he didn't get to show off how strong he was.

Itachi was the next one up. He was against one of the students of Kisame, and made the round look as if it were only a spar for him. It wasn't that the Kiri guy was bad, he was relatively good. But it was _Itachi_ he was against. You really just can't beat the kid.

My match was second to last. I was up against a kid from Suna. Itachi asked if I was okay with this, knowing my background. I waved him off, saying that it was no problem, and it wasn't like I could switch anyway. He nodded, and I jumped down, landing in front of the proctor and by my opponent. We turned to face each other, me with a smile on my face. I held my hand out for the boy, and he hesitantly shook it.

"Good luck." He said to me. I nodded, reciprocating the blessing and we took our spots, getting ready for the battle. The proctors hand flashed, signalling the match's beginning. I dashed in, quickly delivering a hard punch to his stomach, making him gag. I jumped back, landing in a kneeling position, forming a few hand signs, and then grabbing my tanto, letting the electricity flow through it. I jumped back in, making slashes at my opponent, and was impressed when they kept up with me, only using a kunai.

The thing was though, with my tanto how it was now, it's not about landing one heavy hit. It's the small quick hits, delivering small amounts of numbing electricity to the opponent. He promptly dropped his kunai, not being able to hold it thanks to his hand becoming numb. I quickly closed in on him, making small cuts on his arms and legs, each movement he made becoming slow and sloppy. He eventually collapsed, unable to stand any longer. I flickered behind him, holding my tanto, now void of lightning, at his back. "It's about time you give up, no?"

He growled at me, unhappy of the outcome. "You either give up, or I will kill you where you sit." I told him, making him make a decision. He reluctantly gave up, after trying to stand once more, unsuccessfully. I smirked, sheathing my tanto and bowing towards the proctor, thanking him. He nodded and I jumped up to my team, getting my congratulations.

"That was quick and easy, wasn't it?" Maen asked with a confident smile on his face. "Yeah, unlike you, I actually had to do something." I countered, pointing out the fact that his fight was ten times easier than anyone else's here. We watched the last fight, it lasting a bit longer than the others. It had been between Mangetsu and a shinobi from Takigakure. I was quite impressed, not only was Mangetsu quite the fighter at his age, but his opponent was too. They must train their shinobi well.

It was fruitless though for the girl, as Mangetsu came out on top, his skill with his sword unmatched. The winners of the matches were asked to come out to the floor for the final lecture of the secondary battles. There were now twelve of us, and thankfully all three of us from our team made it through. We were then let go, given three weeks to prepare for the finals.

My team made its way back to the hotel, getting cleaned up and bandaged. Shibi sensei elected to take us out for dinner, courtesy of him, as a congratulations for passing the first parts of the exam. There was a grill house just a bit down from the hotel, so we got dressed into our casual clothing and made our way down.

We sat down in our booth, the attendant tending to the grill, turning it on and prodding the coals. We ordered the food we wanted and waited for it to be brought to us.

"So, when do we leave to go back to Konoha?" I asked Shibi sensei, unsure of how long we were going to stay in the bland Iwagakure. "Tomorrow we will head back. After that, you get one day of rest, then back to training." I nodded, and then prodded Itachi's side with my elbow. "Wanna train like, super hard core when we get back?" He shook his head yes, "Of course. But there will be days where I can't." I brought my hand to my mouth, hiding my smile. "Oh? Have plans with someone?" He sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"I don't know why you and Shisui both think that something is going on in between Izumi and me. I'm only tutoring her, nothing else." I giggled, "Of course there isn't. I mean, it's not like you're going over there almost every _day_." The food was delivered to us, and he took mine and handed to me, then took his own and started cooking it. "Say what you want, it changes nothing." I laughed; somewhat knowing he was telling the truth.

The rest of the meal went on with idle chatter, some bickering between Maen and I, then the other two having to break it up. All in all, a decent meal, and it almost felt like we were a family. It brought me back to my own family, back in Sunagakure. Of course, father wasn't always there, but when he was, it was nice. It was nice to feel the same way with my team, too. Maen was like the older annoying brother I never wanted, Shibi sensei was the strict father figure, but did show that he cared about us. Itachi was like my best friend turned brother. He had always been there for me, helping me when I needed it, and vice versa.

We walked back to the hotel almost in silence, though I broke from the group for a moment to grab a small stone statue souvenir to bring back with me to Konoha. It was shaped like an owl, one of my favourite birds. When we got back into the hotel room, I put it into my bag, wrapping it up in an extra bandage I had. It was an early night too, sensei saying that he wanted to get moving before the sun rose, though Itachi and I talked for a bit more about no subject in particular.

….

The trip back was nothing special. It took us five days this time because we stopped in a small village for a day, looking around the tourist town. We went to the Hokage right away, informing him of our victories.

"Very well done. I expect you to do just as well in the finals." He told us before dismissing us. We bowed deeply, thanking him then leaving to go to our respective home. I told Itachi that I would meet him there, and that I was going to visit Shisui before I went home. We waved to each other before going our separate ways when we got into the compound. I made my way over a few streets before coming up to the apartment building Shisui resided in. I walked up the stairs and to his front door and knocked.

I heard banging and things falling before I heard his strangled voice. "Be right there!" I laughed and opened the door, peeking inside. I could only see his head from behind a wall, pots and pans lying around him. I burst out in giggles before he looked up, and embarrassed look on his face. "I told you I'd be right there!" he said frantically, waving his hand. I walked over to him, crouching at his head and looking at the damage he caused.

"What are you even doing?" I asked him, trying to suppress my laughing. "Augh, I was trying to hang this stupid rack for these stupid pots and pans. As soon as I put the last one on, it all fell over." I was trying so hard to hold in my laugh, and a sardonic look crossed his face. "Thank you. That makes me feel _so_ much better." I took a deep breath, calming myself down.

"Okay, I'm sorry." I told him, holding out a hand to help him get up. He took it warily, and got up without incident. "So, where have _you_ been the past like, two weeks?" I smiled at him slyly. "Oh, you know. Just at the _chunin exams_." He paused for a moment, letting the words sink in.

"The chunin exams? Where were they?" Another pause. "Did you pass?" I smiled again before answering. "Yes. They were in Iwagakure. At least the primary and secondary sections of it were. The finals are being held here. And of course I passed." I finished, flipping my hair dramatically. I was wrapped in a tight hug and swung around.

"Ah, little Suchiru is finally growing up and becoming a beautiful kunoichi~!" I blushed at the close contact, and then laughed. "Just so you know, Maen and Itachi made it to the finals too. I may have to fight one of them." He set me down immediately upon hearing that, and put his hands on my shoulders, getting extremely close to my face with his own.

"Then I'm going to train you to beat them."

….

Oh mang. So I may have lied about this being the last chapter with this team being the center of attention. But we'll see. _Also_ , sorry about the multitude of time skips, I just don't want to bore you guys with the teeny tiny details, so instead this chapter is a bit longer to make up for it. (and for the tad lateness) Hope you're enjoying~


	8. Chapter 8

"Ah! Jeez!" I yelled out, holding my now bleeding arm. I looked up at my temporary teacher, glaring at him. "Shisui, what the hell?!" He laughed nervously, scratching his head. "You need to move faster." He paused, looking at my ankles. "What's with the weights, anyway?"

I kicked the dirt in his direction before answering. "Fugaku said I need to wear them to increase my speed. So I have to keep them on." He gave a chuckle. "Ah, good ol' Fugaku. He's pretty strict on you, isn't he?" I nodded, holding my tanto out in front of me again, signalling I was ready to begin. He nodded, and jumped in, our swords clashing with each other, creating a few sparks.

Shisui's style of swordplay was very straightforward, and required a lot of strength. Mine was more of a dance, and even though I was a total klutz, it worked for me very well. Ever since Shisui started training me, my swordsmanship had increased a lot, which was good because we were less than a week from the finals. I needed to catch up to Itachi if I didn't want to get totally decimated in the exams.

I deflected another swipe from my partner. "I'm going to get my ass kicked, aren't I?" I asked him with disappointment on my face. "Absolutely not. I won't allow it. Itachi may have beaten you before, but this is where you turn tables." I looked at him disapprovingly. "Yeah? Me and what army?"

He gave me a pose showing off his miniscule muscles and a bright smile. "Me of course!" I found it almost impossible not to smile. For someone so smart, he sure could act like a fool. "Alright, what's next then?" He gave an evil smirk, "Your body flicker. I want it to be flawless." I crossed my arms.

"Like you right?" I answered sarcastically, although I don't think that's the way he took it. He gave another smile and a thumbs up. "Yes, exactly like me." I rolled my eyes, and then pointed to a spot near the tree line of our training field. He nodded, and I started the flicker. I tried to keep it steady, but was struggling towards the end, making it waver the last couple of seconds.

"You focus too much in the beginning. That's not when it matters. Watch me." He flickered, and I noticed that he only 'faltered' in the beginning, moving one way then the complete opposite in the last couple seconds. Jumping again, I focused on only hiding myself in the last stretch, ending in a bit of a crouch. I looked up to him excitedly, and got a nod of approval. I jumped with joy, and tried again and again, getting it right every time.

"Alright, alright. Enough jumping around. If you're going to face Itachi, then you need to learn how to move faster than him, so we have to do a bit of speed training." He brought out two more weights, presumably for my wrists, and a rope. I took the weights and put them on, then raised an eyebrow at the rope.

"You'll see!" he said with a goofy smile before telling me to turn around. I did as told, and then felt something around my waist. I lifted my arms and looked down, seeing two hands and a rope. I immediately turned around, a glare set on my face. "You're tying rope around me, why?" He only took my shoulders and pushed me back around. "Alright, now you can run." I huffed and pushed my hair back behind my hair band.

I took my first step, feeling the weight and the strain now against my waist. I tried running, but was held in place by the boy behind me. "You know you're supposed to let up a bit so I can at least get a couple feet ahead, you dork." I felt him let up a bit and started to run. And damn, it was a bit hard. He put up a bit of resistance, but otherwise I was good to go.

We did the resistant running for about an hour before I got tired and just fell forward, yet I did not hit the ground. "Shisui, just end my suffering now." I heard a laugh, "Are you sure you want me to do that?" I grunted in response, and felt the line loosen. I fell forward, my face planting itself in the dirt. All my breath left me, and I deflated in exhaustion. "My tiny little ten year old body can't handle this training." He struggled to keep in his laugh, and I didn't even have enough energy to chew him out over it.

Training is _so_ much fun.

….

The finalists stood in the stadium, all lined up in front of the proctor awaiting instructions. I had to move my hair down to try and cover my black eye, given to me by Shisui when we trained this morning because he thought it would be a good idea to have a fist fight. I glanced up to the boy in the stands, seeing him sit next to Fugaku and Mikoto, Sasuke on her lap looking as excited as ever to see his brother fight. He gave me a sheepish grin and thumbs up as Fugaku glared at him, probably already have given him an earful.

We met up earlier with the family to walk to the stadium together, Shisui trying to hide behind me, attempting to hide from the older man. When I was inquired about my eye, I only threw my thumb back to the boy behind me, and the glaring commenced from Fugaku, while Itachi only sighed at our antics.

Itachi stood beside me, as proper as ever, standing as straight as a pole. Mangetsu stood on my other side, chewing on his water bottle straw, making the most annoying squeaking noise with it. I, on the other hand, had my shoulders slumped and arms crossed, glaring at the boy in the stands.

The proctor coughed, getting our attention. He explained the rule to us, which were the exact same as the secondary exam. Fight until one gives up or dies. No interference from the ref unless absolutely necessary. The first matchup was between Maen and one of the two Suna shinobi. From what I gathered, the Suna shinobi was a wind user, and used his jutsu to make himself faster, giving me an idea of using it as well.

Maen was easily more skilled than he. It was the speed of his opponent that was a struggle for him. Maen was always trying to keep the space between himself and the other shinobi, keeping his shadows on the kids' tail. The chase seemed to go on and on, to the point where they eventually headed into taijutsu, Maen having the heavier hits, but the other kid having faster movement. Finally though, Maen was able to land a solid hit to the kids jaw, knocking him out cold. He was declared winner, and made his way back up to the observatory where Itachi and I congratulated him on his win.

"That was a little long winded, Maen." I told the boy with a small smirk. I received a glare and a flick to the nose. "Don't do that again." I laughed, rubbing my nose, trying to get rid of the sting. We moved to the railing, waiting to see who would be announced to go down next. It was two Iwa shinobi, which I did not know. It seemed as though they were teammates, the boy of the two getting a bit nervous fighting his female counterpart.

It was awful. The fight was so one sided it was disgusting. The boy didn't put any effort in, afraid of hitting his teammate, while she held no remorse, beating him into the ground. He had to be taken out on a stretcher, and the disappointment was quite clear on the girl's face. I shook my head, unable to look any longer.

The next match was announced, Itachi and one of the Iwa kids being called to the field. Itachi seemed to be holding his chakra for the last round; which he would no doubt reach. He was on the other kid like mud on a pig. He was showing his taijutsu prowess, not letting his opponent get the upper hand for even a moment. The kid had so many cuts from Itachi's sword; he eventually gave up in fear of dying to blood loss. Itachi bowed to his opponent, and then made his way up to us, where I gave him a high five, congratulating him on his match.

A Kumo and Kiri shinobi were called to the floor. I unfortunately did not get to watch, getting fed up with Mangetsu's idiocy with his stupid water bottle. "Will you stop with the squeaking of the straw?!" I yelled at him, trying to grab the water bottle out of his hand. "Oi! Hands away from me, pipsqueak!" He retorted, hitting me on the head with said bottle. I growled at him, trying to jump after him, only to be held back by my teammates, who then proceeded to apologize for me.

"Suchiru, you can't just go after the other contestants like that." Itachi scolded, holding the bridge of his nose in agitation. I crossed my arms, "That stupid straw was annoying me. He doesn't know how to keep quiet!" I told him, the last part loud enough for the boy in question to hear, only to have him playing with the straw even more. Maen approached the two of us, pointing down to the field. "Suchiru, you're up." I smiled brightly, jumping over the railing and landing in a role, popping up when I reached the proctor.

The match started as soon as the Iwa shinobi I was facing showed up. Another earth user, so it shouldn't be too hard. I started off with taijutsu, trying to get a feel for their strength. We clashed, kunai and tanto creating sparks as we fought. I twisted my body, kicking him in the stomach, causing him to fly back a bit. He landed on his feet, and quickly jumped back while creating hand signs. The earth split, causing me to jump back to avoid the damage. The boy was after me in an instant, going for the stab. I pulled my tanto back out and shoved it into the ground, using it to spin around and swiftly kick him again. He landed on his side, then rolled to get back up. I formed a few signs of my own, and throwing lightning needles at him, a few of them sending shocks through his body. I moved in as quick as I could, allowing my blade to take the lightning nature in it, and slicing his chest with it. I cart wheeled away, bringing my tanto up in front of me, ready for retaliation. The boy in front on the other side of the stadium collapsed to the ground, my lightning numbing him enough where he couldn't move. I was declared winner, and I bowed to my opponent, and then moved to the stands with my team.

Mangetsu and another Iwa kid were next up. Mangetsu won this match easily, the Iwa shinobi having a fire affinity. He boasted the whole way up, then approached me and annoyed me with his straw, making me punch him repeatedly while my teammates attempted to get me off of him. Maen had to leave, his match with the Iwa girl beginning.

This match was intense. The two of them had earth affinities, so the ground had been totally destroyed, but it gave plenty of areas to hide his shadows. Though, she was familiar with the terrain, and was able to out maneuver him, forcing him to use taijutsu. He eventually gave up, valuing his life more than the battle, but Itachi informed me he had done it because he had no chakra left. I had a weird sense of déjà vu, but waved it off.

Maen joined us, laughing at his battle. I asked if he was alright with losing, given that there was more of a chance that he wouldn't get chunin, but he seemed pretty alright with it. "It's not about winning anyway; it's about the strategies you use and whatnot. I'm not worried." Was his response. I nodded hesitantly, because Itachi and the same girl from Iwa was being called to the center of the stadium, and depending on who won the fight, it would be relatively easy, or I would be facing Itachi, and just the thought alone was making me incredibly nervous. He hadn't used much chakra in comparison to me, and was definitely more skilled.

I rubbed my hands together nervously while watching them fight. Itachi clearly had the upper hand, but I felt like he was dragging it on much longer than he needed to. He was continually casting weak genjutsus on her, keeping her away from him. What was he doing? Giving me more time to prepare myself? Usually I wouldn't mind having a good spar with him. But this was a fight; a fight to the death. Or at least until one or the other gave up. _And_ in front of a full stadium no less. My nerves were getting to me. I despised crowds, especially when all their eyes were on me.

Their match ended as Itachi gave her a chance to surrender with his sword at her throat, and she took it. Begrudgingly, she made her way of the field limping, her head hung low in defeat. I was then called down to the final match of the exam. I jumped down from the balcony, landing in a crouch, and then walked to my opponent and the proctor.

"The final match between Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Suchiru will now commence." he announced to the crowd as they cheered, excited to see this particular match. I held out my shaking hand, "Good luck Itachi, even though we both know you don't need it." He smiled at me, taking my hand and shaking it. "Good luck, Suchiru." We stepped back and got into fighting stances, of course his looking much more like the Uchiha style than mine. The proctor's hand had raised, and everyone held their breath. It shot down quickly and the match began,

We both darted in, starting off with taijutsu, just to see how serious the other was. As we fought, I tried to get the idea of him just being an opponent in my head. _'This is no longer Itachi to me, he's an enemy and they must be eliminated. '_ My eyes glazed over a bit, and I was able to hit him harder. I swiftly grabbed my tanto, attempting to cut him with it before he could react, but I was too slow. He whipped out a kunai to deflect my swipe, and quickly grabbed his own sword. We fought with them, sparks flying and cuts were administered to both of us, though I unfortunately had more.

I dove in for an attack, and threw my tanto, forcing him to dodge then threw more shuriken at him quickly. I hit with one, but it didn't slow him down any. He came at me, sword in hand and I pulled out a kunai, blocking his attack then pushing it off, punching his cheek. He flew back a bit, but rolled away and stood back up quickly. I smirked, making some hand signs and the kunai I held sparked to life. He made his own signs, then proceeded to spit out water, cover about half of the field. I threw the kunai away quickly, and it hit the water, electrocuting it and making it a no man zone.

I used my wind style, pushing the water towards him, then it froze up, spikes pointed in his direction. I used it to my advantage, jumping over them as quick as I could and grabbed Itachi, throwing him into them. He was impaled, many of the ice spikes coming through his body. But no blood. His body quickly started to distort itself, crows flying in every direction and all around me, making it near impossible to see. I swatted them away, only to see Itachi coming at me with my own tanto. I bent backwards, feeling the wind of it on the tip of my nose. I quickly spun on my hands, using my wind style to speed my movements up.

We engaged in taijutsu again, our movements becoming blurred. I saw red, and proceeded to avoid his eyes. I knew he would never use it on me, but it's better to be safe than sorry. I paid attention to his hands and his body movements, cursing at my luck. I jumped up ad over him, throwing shuriken at him from the air, and landed behind him, grabbing my tanto he discarded. I made quick swipes at him, cutting him only once, and then jumped back again. _It's impossible to get close to him without him having the upper hand. I have to do something to increase my speed!'_ I looked up into the stands as Itachi and I stood across from each other, catching our breath.

Shisui was cheering me on, and Sasuke was trying to compete with him by cheering for his brother. Fugaku seemed to be satisfied by what he was seeing, and Mikoto seemed to be very into the match, her eyes wide and hands clasped together in anticipation. I mouthed a sorry to Fugaku, and he furrowed his brows. I sat down; my legs crossed and went for my ankles. Itachi raised his brows from where he was standing, but quickly covered it with a small smile.

I undid the velcro that held the weights together and tossed them to the side. I stood up again, testing out my now free legs. I felt so much lighter, now that I had nothing slowing down my movements. I got into my stance again, and Itachi tensed up, now ready to fight once again. I flickered in spot for a moment before moving forward, appearing in front of him, kicking him in the stomach and watching him fly back, landing on his back and quickly rolling to stand up.

I gave him no time to recover, jumping after him and going to punch his crouching form. He jumped back and I hit the ground, leaving a good crack behind after I lifted my fist. He came after me, throwing kunai and shuriken as quick as he could, and I could only deflect a few. Cuts were all over my arms and legs, and I gripped a kunai that stabbed my shoulder, and threw it to the ground, probably a bit more dramatically than I needed to. I started making signs for a wind style jutsu, and he quickly made some for his fire ball jutsu, making me unable to cast mine. I hastily made a wall to hide behind, jumping out as soon as the fire ceased, and started up my lightning thief jutsu, the lightning dancing between my palms. I casted it forward, attempting to catch him with it.

I chased him around the stadium with it, dodging anything he threw at me. My lightning dissipated, and I shook my hands to get the numb feeling out of them. _'I'm running out of chakra. I need to end this.'_ I flickered towards him, trying to catch him off guard, only to get clotheslined when I was halfway through. I coughed and landed on my side, one hand on the ground trying to lift myself up, and the other around my neck, trying to get my breath back. He stood over me, sword pointed at my head, and I knew it was over. I could use my iron sand to get out of it, but that would be revealing myself to everyone here. I couldn't do it. I grunted and rolled onto my back, letting out a big sigh of defeat. I lifted my hands up in defense.

"I know when I'm defeated. I surrender." The crowed erupted into cheer as the proctor signalled the end of the match. A hand appeared in front of my face, and I took it. Itachi and I shook hands, and I congratulated him. "Well you certainly didn't make it easy for me, I hope you know." I laughed, rubbing the back of my head. "I tried not to." He smiled, then put a hand on my shoulder.

"Next time Shisui teaches you some to 'get ahead' of me, make sure it's something I don't know how to out maneuver." he said with a wink and my head dropped. "I should have known you knew how to counter that." The proctor walked over to the two of us, allowing the Itachi and I to go join the rest of the contestants on the balcony as the Hokage gave the finishing speech. We nodded, joining Maen and getting congratulations from him and some of the others.

After the speech, everyone in the stands began to file out, going home for the day. Itachi and I waited for the majority masses to leave before exiting ourselves. We walked through the door, spotting his family waiting out of the way of the door. Sasuke brightened up immediately when he saw his older brother, running up to him and telling him how cool he looked in the tournament. Shisui came up to me and slung his arm around my shoulders.

"That was some pretty good fighting you did out there, Suchiru. It's a shame that you couldn't beat Itachi." I sighed, looking up at the older boy. "Yeah well, I guess I couldn't beat him with something he already knew how to get around." Shisui blinked, then smiled goofily. "Yeah, I guess I forgot about that." I gave him an unbelieving stare.

"You mean that the three weeks that we were training for, you didn't remember that you use the body flicker to fight against him?" He waved his hand dismissively, "I get forgetful sometimes. Forgive me, your majesty." I only laughed at him, and then a sharp pain in my shoulder jolted me to a stop.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked me before seeing my hand, blood seeping between my fingers. "It's a small cut I got while fighting Itachi. I'll be fine." I told him, trying to smile through the pain. He rolled his eyes, then proceeded to pick me up, carrying me past the family we walked behind. "I'm taking her to the hospital. We should be back for dinner."

I huffed, glaring up at the boy. "I can walk, you know." He shook his head, his grip tightening on me. "Nope. Can't chance it." I closed my eyes, holding the bridge of my nose. "You are being dramatic, Shisui. I'm fine." He laughed. "As if you didn't know that before." He walked us in the front doors of the hospital, and to the front desk. He informed them that I had a wound and they told us to go to the emergency room just down the hallway. He thanked her and we made our way down the hall.

"That was a pretty good fight between you two, to be honest. Out of all the contestants he faced, you were the most difficult." I waved him off, "You're just saying that. He could have handed my ass to me at any point in that fight." Shisui shook his head. "No, I'm serious. I was watching him. At the end of the fight, that fireball, was the last jutsu he could use. He was using the sharingan the whole match, and it took its toll on him." The nurse walked over, getting all her instruments together. I thought about it. He _did_ have to do three matches in a row, so there's no doubt that he would have been a bit tired from them.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The nurse directed at Shisui. He looked over to me and I nodded, letting him know I'd be fine. "I'll find you somewhere out there when I'm done. Shouldn't be too long anyway." He nodded, "Alright. See you in a bit." He left, leaving the nurse and me alone. She motioned for me to take my coat off, and I complied.

"Oh dear. Training accident?" She asked me as I revealed the wound. I shook my head no and took the coat off fully, showing the cuts and bruises I received during the exam. "Oh dear, what happened to you?" I shrugged my shoulders. "I was in the chunin exams. They just ended about half an hour ago." She then smiled.

"Well that's good. How far did you make it?" she asked me as she started healing my wound. "Oh, I was in the finals. I lost, sadly." She nodded, too concentrated to speak. She put pressure on the wound, making me wince, but otherwise it went alright.

"Alright, all finished. Don't move your shoulder too much. If you happen to reopen it, just come back here and I'll fix it up again." She told me, waving her finger. I promised I would try to stay out of trouble, and left the room to find Shisui. I walked out to the lobby, waving down the boy who dragged me here in the first place. He stood up, "How's the shoulder?" I moved it up and down a bit, making sure not to bother it too much. "It's all good, and now all I have are bruises." I told him as we walked out the front of the hospital, starting our way to the main Uchiha household.

"Well that's good then. Now all you have to do is wait to see if you've become chunin! Which _I_ have no doubt you did." He told me, and I nodded. It would be interesting for sure, if I become chunin, because at that point, I can be picked up to be part of ANBU or to be a tokubetsu jonin, which would be highly unlikely, given I'm not part of a specific clan that takes part in that kind of stuff. Then there's the problem of the sharingan awakening. I'm sure people will eventually start questioning that I don't have it yet, and Fugaku will either have to lie about my identity, or reveal who I actually am. But I guess until that point in time I won't have to worry about it too much.

We arrived at home and walked through the front door, taking our shoes off and walking down the hallway to get to the kitchen. Mikoto was instantly there to block my way and turn me right back around. "There is no way I am allowing you to step foot into the kitchen young lady!" I tensed up at her words, trying to think if I did something to upset her. "Is this because I lost? It wasn't on purpose, I swear." I told her quickly, trying to save myself.

"Good heavens no. It's because you're filthy. Go get washed up. Then you can come in." I blushed with embarrassment and went to my room, gathering up a spare set of clothes and made my way to the bathroom. I washed myself down, making sure to get all the blood and dirt off of me, then changed into a high collared dark blue t-shirt, black leggings and beige shorts on top of them. I walked back out to the kitchen, getting a nod of approval from Mikoto and a thumbs up from Shisui. I plopped myself beside said boy and sipped on the tea that was set on the table, enjoying the warm liquid after the long day. Shortly after some onigiri was set down by Mikoto and we all dug into that.

It was a peaceful afternoon. It was something that I hadn't had in awhile, and it was nice. For the past while, Itachi and I had been on missions or just training, always keeping up with our studies, no time for leisure activities. Now we were laughing with the family, and even Fugaku was cracking a smile every once in awhile. Shisui and I proceeded to have a mock fight in the backyard, him letting me win to make me feel better about the match Itachi and I had earlier, which, in my defense, was probably the best fight I had ever had. Sasuke had challenged Itachi to a fight, which was quite hilarious in its own. At first, Itachi had flicked him in the forehead, his signature _'maybe next time, Sasuke.'_ phrase spoken to the poor boy, but Shisui and I convinced him to at least attempt it.

Sasuke had claimed triumph over his older brother, defeating him after ten minutes of struggling. Mikoto had then called us in for dinner, serving up fried chicken (which I absolutely _loved_ ) and a stir fry of vegetables and noodles which I made myself. I also tried recreating a non alcoholic sangria that I remembered from my past life, getting it almost exactly the same. The rest of the evening went relatively well, and when it was finally time to get ready to sleep, Shisui had asked if I would accompany him home, to which I had agreed.

We started our trek home, walking in silence for a bit. "So, you still want to train together? Our styles are kinda the same, so it would work.." He asked me, a bit of hesitation in his voice. "Sure! But you gotta promise that you're gonna help me get better than Itachi!" I said to him, grabbing onto his arm. "Haha, alright, that will be our mission then." he responded, turning his head and scratching his cheek, a small blush crawling across his face. I immediately grinned at him.

"Why are you blushing, Shisui?" He attempted to hide it by pretending to rub his nose, but it only got worse. "I'm not, brat." I laughed, "You are, though! You look like a tomato!" He coughed, trying to regain his composure. His face settled back to its normal colour, "Ok, so we are going to forget about that." I giggled, trying to keep my laughing to a minimum. "Forget what?"

He nodded, accepting that I would drop it. For now at least. We reached his place, and I let go of his arm as he pulled out the keys to his apartment. He unlocked the door and opened it, but briskly turned around and told me to stay put for a moment. I raised my brow at his actions, but stayed where I was. I heard shuffling around before he came back to the door, his hands behind his back.

"Alright, close your eyes." He told me quickly. I did, but my eyebrow was raised in questioning. "Why…? Should I be concerned?" Nothing but silence. "My eyes are closed. I can't see if you're shaking your head." I told him. "Ah! No. Nothing to be concerned about." I nodded.

"Now put your hands out." I did as told, albeit a tad hesitant. I felt a small metal object drop into my open palm. "Okay. Open your eyes." I opened one eye slowly, and looked into my hands. A hair clip sat there, a small Uchiha emblem on the end of it. I looked up at him, and he only had a goofy smile on his face. "It was supposed to be for you when you _won_ the exams, but that didn't happen. But I'm gonna give it to you anyway." I smiled back at him.

"Thanks, Shisui. I really like it!" as the words left my mouth, he grabbed it from my hand and pulled the hair out of my face, moving to the left and clipping it back. My face heated up from the action, but I quickly composed myself, rubbing my forearm roughly. "Hah, that looks much better. Now I can see your face!" And back came the blush. He laughed, "Now who's blushing?" I only smacked his arm before turning around to leave.

"Goodbye, Shisui!" I called as I walked down the stairs to the street.

"Goodbye Suchiru!"

….

My team stood in the Hokage's office. It was a week after the chunin exams, a week that we had all gotten off to relax. Shibi sensei stood behind Hiruzen, who had three sets of papers in front of him. Hiruzen sighed, looking over the first one.

"Nara Maen?" He asked, and Maen stepped forward, back straight. "Your sensei and I have discussed your performance during the chunin exam. We came to the conclusion that with it, and how you handled your missions beforehand, that you are fit to become a chunin. Congratulations." Maen bowed as he thanked him, taking the vest off the counter before putting it on. "Also, you will soon be placed under a tokubetsu jonin from the Nara clan, to advance your clan jutsu even further. You are dismissed." Hiruzen told him. He bowed once again and made his way out of the room.

He then picked up the next set of papers, looking them over briskly before lifting his eyes to Itachi. "Uchiha Itachi; the winner of the exams." He stated, and looked over the boy beside me. "You showed extreme talent and prowess during the exams, and I was told by your sensei that you often take on a role of leadership during your missions." Itachi nodded. "You have been promoted to chunin, and are also on a watch list for ANBU recruitment." His eyes widened a bit at the last bit of information, but he bowed nonetheless, taking the vest off the desk before putting it on. "You are dismissed."

Then it was me. All by myself, being stared down by my sensei and the Hokage. I gulped, feeling myself start to sweat a bit. "Uchiha… Suchiru." I nodded, standing as straight as I could, hands behind my back. "You definitely have the talent to become quite the powerful kunoichi." He told me, looking over my file with squinted eyes. "But with Maen joining another squad to become a tokubetsu jonin, and Itachi will be more than likely to join ANBU, even at his age; you will be without a squad for a bit." He said, looking me over, eyes staying on my clip for a bit. "How are you enjoying the Uchiha clan?" he asked me suddenly. I looked over to my sensei, seeing his eyebrows rise a bit.

"I enjoy staying with them. They make me feel like I'm a part of the family." I told him truthfully. He nodded, going back to my file again. "Alright. I will attempt to find a group for you to move to. For now, you'll be apprenticing under a student of Shimura Danzo. Understood?" I tensed up upon hearing the name, but nodded anyway. "Alright, now that that is settled, take your vest." I quickly grabbed it, putting it on over my overcoat. I stood back again. "Dismissed." I bowed and made my way out of the office, closing the door behind me and scurrying down the stairs of the building. My teammates were waiting just outside the doors, and I rushed out to meet them.

"So what did he say to you?" Itachi asked, a spark of curiosity in his eyes. "Well, he told me that both of you are moving to different squads pretty soon." I told him as I tried to catch my breath. "We're moving squads?" I nodded. "Wait, what are they going to do with you then?" Maen asked before the younger boy could. I stood up straight, adjusting my new flak jacket. "He told me that I'll be apprenticing under some student of Danzo." I could see Itachi visibly tense by the mention of his name.

"That's… Interesting." I nodded to him. "Yeah, I've got no idea why he would want me under his supervision." I commented, but Itachi shook his head. "Danzo is the head of ROOT. They kinda play outside of the rules of the village." I tapped my chin. "But usually they take kids at a young age, and they don't have parents. Why would he ta-" I cut myself short, and looked at Itachi with panicked eyes. "Are they going to take me?!" I cried out, tears threatening to spill over. He quickly grabbed my shoulders, trying to calm me down. "They won't take you. You have a family, remember? He won't mess with our clan. We're too powerful." My breath stopped. But he would mess with the Uchiha. I knew it. And I doubt most of the clan would stand up for me, I was just an orphan taken in by the clan head to them.

"They won't get you. As long as you've got me, and as long as you don't let them, you don't have to join ROOT." He told me, authority and definite laced in his voice. I nodded hesitantly, trying to calm myself down. Maen coughed behind me, gaining my attention.

"What are you two going on about?" I gave a wide eyed look, then back to Itachi for help. He only shrugged, "It's up to you, if you trust him enough." Maen raised a brow, and my head dropped. I did trust him, but I don't know if I'm actually allowed to say anything. But I guess it _is_ my decision. I looked back up to him, my arms crossed and lips in a tight line.

"You have to promise, no matter what, that you will keep this to yourself. It's important that you do." I told him, showing that I trust him. "Alright, you've got my word." I held a pinkie out for him, and he rolled his eyes, but shook with his anyway. "Alright, let me just," I took a deep breath, and then let it out. "prepare myself. Okay."

I took out a kunai from my pouch and held it in my hand. "Alright. Is it supposed to mean something?" He asked me. Then his eyes went wide as it started to melt, eventually becoming a fine dust. "Oh..kay? How are you doing that?" I breathed in through my nose, and looked around to see if anyone was listening in. "I'm the Third Kazekage's daughter." I could see him tense up, looking me over a bit more closely.

"Then why are you here? In the village, I mean." I sighed. This would take a bit. "During the Third War, my father was kidnapped. Since Konoha and Suna weren't at odds during that time, they decided that sending me here was the best thing to do." He nodded, relaxing a bit. "The reason I was freaking out over the whole ROOT thing is because I don't know if Danzo knows about it. _And_ if he does, then it makes me a high candidate to join that faction." I rubbed my neck before continuing.

"The Uchiha clan head was the one put in charge of me, for my protection." He shifted, rubbing the back of his head. "Alright, that's enough. It's too much trouble. But I will keep it on the down low for you." I smiled, clapping my hands in front of me. "Thank you Maen!" he gave a lopsided smile. "Yeah yeah. I'm only being nice because we won't be seeing much of each other anymore."

My head dropped. "Oh yeah. I forgot about that…" A hand was placed on my head. "But we'll have to get together with Shibi sensei after a while." I brightened up again, and gave him a big hug. "Alright kid, get off. People are starting to stare." I quickly moved off of him, giving him the much needed space. "Alright kiddies, I'm off. See you around." He told the two of us, waving as he left.

Itachi and I walked back to the house, getting ambushed by Sasuke as we walked through the door. "Nii-san! How did the meeting go?!" He asked as he stood in front of the two of us, jumping up and down excitedly. "We are both chunin as of today." Itachi replied with a smile. Sasuke's eyes lit up, looking at his brother admirably. "Yeah, check out our nifty new flak jackets." I said, pointing my thumbs to my chest. Then I had an idea, which was dumb, but cute.

"Hey Sasuke!" I called the kid as he jumped in front of me. I took off my vest, handing it to him. "Put it on!" He did as instructed. "Alright, now strike a pose." He did many poses, all which were strong man poses. I laughed, fluffing up his hair. "Itachi, doesn't he look adorable?" He only smiled before taking his shoes off and making his way into the house. I took my shoes off, then leaned over to Sasuke.

"Alright. You gotta go in there, and tell your mom that you made chunin before me." He nodded excitedly before running off, and I followed him in. "Okaa-san, look! I made chunin before Suchiru! I'm the best ninja ever!" Mikoto gasped, playing along with the four year old. "Wow, Sasuke! You'll be better than Itachi in no time!" she told him with a wink, laughing at his antics.

"Alright, I didn't tell you to say you were the best ninja ever, that spot is reserved for me." I joked as he stuck his tongue out at me. "Alright you two, calm down. It's time for lunch." Mikoto told us before setting some pre-made sandwiches down on the table, beckoning us to eat. We jumped up to the table, and bowed our heads.

"Itadakimasu!"

….

It had been three days since I was promoted, and I haven't heard anything about my assignment. Itachi had started his training with ANBU yesterday, Kakashi retrieving him as we trained. The rest of the day I spent with Sasuke, helping with his pre-school work, and working on his throwing techniques. Shisui is currently out on a mission, and who knows when he'll get back. So for now, I had occupied myself in the backyard of the main Uchiha household, training with my iron sand. Not getting to use it too often causes me to loose my magic touch.

The way I had started to use it lately was somewhat the same as that old Avatar show I used to watch in my previous life, but using more of the fire style bending, combined with the earth style. Very forceful, but still with a touch of grace. Of course, I rarely used my legs, it was mostly arm movements, that way I had better control of my chakra. I heard my name being called suddenly, cause me to drop my sand and form it into marble like objects. The door to the house slid open revealing Shisui, still in his mission clothing.

"The Hokage is summoning you. Sounds pretty urgent." He told me quickly. I nodded, dropping the iron into a basket I kept on the side of the porch, then followed him to the front door where I quickly shoved my shoes on and started making my way to the Hokage's office, Shisui leading the way.

"So what's this about?" I asked him as we jumped the rooftops. He shrugged his shoulders. "Not sure, I think it's about your team placement?" I lifted an eyebrow at him, confused by his answer. "I was told that I would be apprenticing under one of Danzo's underlings." His face grew dark for a moment. "No, not anymore. I talked the Hokage out of that." I nodded, choosing to remain silent for the rest of the way since the air was thick with tension.

We arrived shortly to the Hokage's office. I knocked, then waited for a response. A few moments later we were allowed entrance. The two of us walked in and stood in front of the Hokage, backs straight. We bowed until told we were allowed to rise.

"You asked to see me, Hokage-sama?" I asked him, getting straight to the point. He shook his head yes. "I did. It's regarding your new squad." I nodded to him, beckoning him to continue. "Yes. I was… convinced not to set you up with one of Danzo's students. Instead, you will put on Shisui's squad." He told me, pointing to the boy I was standing beside. I raised my eyebrow at this.

"But sir, his squad is full?" I asked, before looking at Shisui, but his face was once again grim. "I see he hasn't told you. One of his squad members had fallen on their latest mission. You are going to be his replacement." I swallowed hard. "...And the others are alright with this?" I asked hesitantly. "They don't have a choice. Shisui's squad is one of the best we have right now, and it would be a shame to not have it up to full strength." I nodded, not arguing any further. We were both dismissed, and we left the office. As soon as the door closed behind us, I turned to the boy.

"What happened? On your mission?" He shook his head. "It was a mistake. Just a stupid mistake. And Roka paid for it with his life." I looked to the ground, unsure of what to say. "...Was the mission a success at least?" He nodded before scratching both sides of his head roughly. "Yeah, it was. But not the kind of success I like." I rubbed my arm awkwardly, trying to think of something else to say, but nothing came to mind.

"But hey," he said, changing his demeanour completely, "you're a chunin now, and on my team. So we need to be super awesome, unlike Itachi." He smiled brightly at me, but I was still a bit wary of the previous subject. I nodded anyway, a small smile on my face. "Yeah, it should be fun. But I'm gonna have to learn all your styles in order to fit in properly."

He waved his hand dismissively. "You're similar to me. You'll be fine." I rolled my eyes at him, shoving him a bit. "That doesn't mean I'll be used to everyone else's. So you'll have to be a bit patient with me. _Especially_ since I'll be the youngest." He slung his arm around my shoulder, leaning in. "Yeah, but between you and me you're probably one of the stronger ones." I gave him a big grin, "Yeah but unfortunately I won't be able to use my kekkei genkai." He shrugged his shoulders.

We continued home, walking through the front door and taking our shoes off. I ran through the house and into the backyard where everyone had gathered for the afternoon. Sasuke's head popped up at the sound of the door opening, a big smile appearing on his face. "You're home! What did the Hokage say to you?" I jumped down to the grass, picking up the boy and spinning him around.

"Well, he told me that I am now on Shisui's team, since my own team is abandoning me." He giggles as I spun him around, and Itachi spoke up. "So you won't be training under Danzo anymore? That's good." Another pair of feet hit the ground, joining the conversation.

"Yup! All thanks to me." Shisui told him with a lopsided grin. "Really?" "Yes, when I inquired about your team's progress, he told me where you guys were headed, and I was not about to allow some asshole take my little kohai away from me." I rolled my eyes at his response. "Yes, I was so distressed about leaving my senpai behind. I'm so glad I get to spend more time with him." I said sarcastically.

"Oh you know you love me." he teased, poking my arm. "Oh yes. You are the love of my life. The apple of my eye." I droned, making sure to roll my eyes for emphasis.

"I knew it."

….

Alrighty, work is awful, writer's block is awful. everything is awful. Sorry this is two weeks late. Hope you enjoy regardless!


	9. Chapter 9

I stood in front of the other two members of Shisui's team, arms folded across my chest. They looked at me with uncertainty while Shisui stood behind me with a proud smile on his face.

"Are you guys gonna stop lookin' at me like that anytime soon?" I asked them with a bit of attitude. They continued to stare at me relentlessly. This wasn't going too well. The first time I meet his team and it seemed like they already didn't want me here. Wonderful. One pushed his glasses up, sighing.

"So you're the replacement for Nobusawa." I nodded, somewhat guilty of replacing their teammate so soon. It must have been hard for them. I couldn't imagine losing a teammate, someone who I had spent the majority of my shinobi career with; only to be replaced almost immediately with some kid I barely knew. I felt an arm go around my shoulder.

"Hey, I know it's a tad soon, but trust me, she's just as good as he was." Shisui tried to assure him. The boy, who I had yet to know his name, just sighed again, rubbing his eyes from beneath his glasses. "We'll see." The other one, whose defining feature was his bandana style headband, was the next to speak up.

"So you know her well then, Shisui?" The boy in question nodded, "Yeah, since I was a kid. Trained with her since then too." He looked me up and down, trying to judge me. I shoved my hands in the pockets of my new pants, glaring at him. I got a poke to the side of the head by the boy beside me, and I swatted his hand away.

"Don't do that." He only laughed before removing his hand from my shoulders and walking to the middle of the group. "Alright, before we get too heated, why don't you all introduce yourselves to each other?" I grunted before speaking up.

"Uchiha Suchiru." The boys stayed silent. "What?" I asked harshly, tired of the staring they were doing. "Well," the boy with the glasses started. "You say you're an Uchiha, but your eyes are… yellow." I rolled my eyes at him.

"My mother wasn't. She was an outsider." They seemed to accept that. That's good. They boy with glasses coughed before giving his name. "Koganezawa Taji." I nodded to him, then turned my eyes to the other boy. "Nakajima Shun" I nodded again, then put my hands behind my back.

"Alright, now we have to discuss what your fighting styles are." I told them, and Taji pushed his glasses up again. "That would be wise, and yours as well." And once again, we went silent. Shisui clapped his hands together, getting everyone's attention. "Alright Suchiru. Why don't you go first, since you're the newest?" I sighed.

"My fighting style is very strength and close combat oriented. I suck at genjutsu, and excel at ninjutsu and kenjutsu, using the same type of tanto as Shisui. I have three element types; wind, lightning and earth." I ended, and waited for the other two to take their turns.

"I have a more stealth approach to battle." Shun started. "I excel at ninjutsu and taijutsu, and my element type is water." He nodded to Taji. "I'm the medic, so I tend to try and stay out of the action, but if needed, I tend to stick more to needles. My taijutsu is my best quality while my lightning style is used for backup." Huh, lightning style would be very useful as a medic.

"Alright then. Since it's only two in the afternoon, why don't we have a bit of a training session?" Shisui suggested, getting a nod from me and a 'whatever' from the other two. "Okay," he said, scratching his head awkwardly. "Shun, you and Suchiru can be on a team, and Taji and I will be our own team." I glared at Shisui, but he only waved his hand as he and his teammate went to the other side of the training ground.

"Since you're better at stealth, I'll take the front. Shisui is more likely to do the same." I told Shun. He nodded silently, and we took our place across from the other two. Shun took his place a few feet behind me, and I grabbed the handle of my tanto, which was now sitting at the bottom of my back. Shisui took his place in front of Taji, just as I predicted.

Shisui counted down, and the spar begun. I dove in quickly, tanto out and clashed with Shisui's. I smiled kindly at him, "Ready to get your ass handed to you?" He showed mock shock on his face. "What fowl language from a young lady such as yourself." I smirked. "Heh, you should be used to by now, shouldn't you?" He only smiled before pushing me away and ducking, his partner coming in with his hands glowing green, using the same kind of scalpels that I remembered Kabuto using against Tsunade.

I jumped back, twisting in the air and watching as a water dragon flowed by underneath me. I landed in front of Shun, and watched as it was sliced in half by a wind style jutsu, and quickly made a wall to block the incoming attack. I felt the wall shudder, then quickly wove more handsigns and slapped my hand against it, a giant circle cutting out a meter in diameter, sending it flying towards our opponents. It landed on open ground, the other two dodging it easily. I looked at the boy behind me. "You're not a sensor type, are you?" He shook his head no, and I cursed to myself. "Alright, we'll have to do this the old fashioned way."

We both headed out, Shun going northwest and me going north east. I gave him one of my special chakra kunai so that I would be able to see him, and if he was in trouble all he had to do was force some chakra in and I would come running. It wasn't until a couple minutes out that I had sensed movement. I quickly ducked behind a tree and laughed quietly to myself. I peeked out, but a bright orange and black mask caught my attention. I move my head back behind the tree as fast as I could, and suppressed my chakra.

I held my breath, and squeezed my eyes shut. _'What the hell is he doing here?!"_ I took small breaths through my nose trying to minimize the amount of noise I was making, and dared to look back out.

He was gone.

I sighed of relief, turning myself back behind the tree. I regretted it so much. The imposing figure stood in front of me, and his hand shot out quickly around my throat, lifting me so I couldn't touch the branch. My hands went for his wrists, trying to pry them off of me. I struggled to breathe, and pushed my toes as far down as they would go, but I couldn't reach the branch.

"And who might we have here, all they way out in the forest by her lonesome?" He asked, his voice low and intimidating. I shook my head, not telling him. His hand squeezed tighter and he slammed me against the tree. "I suggest you answer me, girl." I gasped for breath.

"Su...Suchiru." He laughed deeply. "No last name?" I shut my eyes tightly, trying to make a decision. Should I tell him my real last name, or my fake one? Which would get me in more trouble? I elected to go with the fake, hoping if I shared last names with him, he would have a bit of sympathy.

"U-Uchiha." His grasp lessened for a second, before tightening back up. "Uchiha, huh? Tell me then, who are your parents?" I was quickly loosing my breath, and still unsure to what he wanted. "Fugaku… and Mikoto." He snorted. I would have found it funny, but I was a bit too worried about my life at the moment to do so.

"I don't remember them having a girl your age." I raised my eyebrows at his comment, presumably that he let slip. "Oh?" I said, somewhat strangled. He froze, then growled before throwing me to the ground below. I grunted as I landed, and quickly took some shuriken out, throwing them at him before taking out two kunai for self defence. He came at me quickly, punching my stomach before kneeing me in the face, sending me sprawling to the ground again. I coughed, blood splattering the dirt below. A shadow appeared around me, and I quickly turned to face him, holding my hand above me and closed my eyes, only to hear a metallic clunk.

I opened one eye, seeing a thin shield between me and a metal spear protruding from his hand. We both stayed still, my hand still out and his own still holding the spear against my shield.

"What is this?" He asked lowly, a tad pissed off that I blocked him. My eyes widened, and I quickly pushed my chakra into his metal spear, melting it. He broke it off immediately, backing off. I stood back up, the iron sand now floating around my hands, which were now held up to my head, ready to fight.

I didn't answer, and he took a step towards me. "Because it certainly isn't something the Uchiha possess." He said, a new edge to his voice. I took a step back, then turned to run. I jumped into the surrounding trees and pushed chakra into my feet, trying to go as fast as I could. I could hear the quiet taps of feet hitting tree branches behind me, and decided I needed to step up my game. I formed my hand signs, using my wind style to move even faster.

I boosted through the trees, ducking and dodging branches as I went, then steps behind me getting quieter. I didn't stop though. I pushed myself to my limit, using more and more chakra to give myself more speed. It was terrifying, seeing him face to face. Of course, he was not at full strength, at least what he could be.

' _Obito…'_

Or Tobi, whichever he is going by right now. Equally as scary either way. I couldn't really imagine why he was in the village at this point though, unless he was watching someone. But _who_ is the question. I elected on waiting though, at least until I was out of range of him. I needed to get back to the training ground; he won't show up there, since there would be a chance of someone seeing him there.

A shadow passed in front of me, and then I was tackled out of the air. I slammed into the ground, the body of whoever tackled me pushing me into the earth as we slid. I quickly jabbed two fingers into the ribs of my attacker, earning a surprised yelp. I flipped us over, grabbing a kunai and holding it to their throat.

"Whoa! Hold up!" Shisui shouted, holding his hands up in a defensive position. I dropped my head, letting out a relieved breath I didn't know I was holding. Then I lifted it back up, rage clear on my face.

"What are you doing?!" I yelled at him, out of breath from running. He looked shocked, "I thought we were training? We hadn't seen you for a bit, so I came looking." he said quickly, trying to defend himself. I didn't move the kunai away, still wary of him. He pointed to it, trying to get me to move it.

"Can you move that now? We can be done for the day if you want…" I took a deep breath, then finally took the kunai and put it back in my holster. He relaxed, letting his head fall to the ground, letting out a big sigh of relief. I got off of him and stood up, offering my hand. He took it and jumped up, then gave me a weird look. "What?" I asked him, hands on my hips.

"You were running pretty fast." I glared at him. "So?"

"Well, I was just wondering what you were running from. None of us were in that direction." He explained, and I looked away from him, trying to think of an excuse other than _'The guy that's gonna try and kill us all was back there.'_ I shrugged my shoulders, stuffing my hands in my pockets. "I figured that Shun would need backup, and since I hadn't found anybody, you were this way." He raised an eyebrow at my explanation, but seemed to accept it anyway.

"Alright then, let's get back to the others; they should be waiting back at the training grounds." Shisui told me before jumping off. I jumped after him, following him all the way back. It seemed weird, usually he pried a bit if he knew something was off, but he let it go quite quickly. Of course, I was thankful for it. I don't know how much I can lie to the boy.

We arrived to the training field shortly, seeing the other two sitting on top of the posts that sat in the middle. Upon seeing us, they jumped down and walked over, meeting us halfway.

"What happened to you, Suchiru?" Shun asked, a bit peeved. "I uh, got lost." I told him, crossing my arms. He rolled his eyes, whipping out the kunai I handed to him before we separated. "I thought the point of this was for you to come if I pushed chakra into it." I shrugged my shoulders. "Sorry, I didn't sense it." It wasn't far from the truth, because I honestly never noticed that it went off. I guess I was so focused _on the man trying to kill me_. But I wasn't about to tell them that. I'll keep it a secret for now.

"Alright, well, I think we'll call it a day then. I'll see you guys tomorrow, with a mission, hopefully." Shisui said, dismissing us. The other two waved before walking off, and Shisui and I started off towards the compound. I walked with my hands in my pocket, head turned away from him, staring at the village as we walked through it. I couldn't get my mind off of Obito, unfortunately. I was so confused. At this point he should have been sitting in a cave with Madara, healing from his little 'getting crushed by a boulder' incident. Unless he was sent out to gather intel, which is highly likely.

I grabbed my head in my hands. This was all to confusing for me. I needed more information, but knew I wouldn't get any unless I went out myself, which I was _not_ going to do. I valued this life, and was going to try and keep it as long as I could. I got a tap on my shoulder suddenly. I looked over to see Shisui, a concerned look on his face. He took my hands down and away from my face carefully, holding them between us.

"Is everything ok? Since we met back up from the spar, you're acting all kinds of weird." I laughed nervously, "Hah, yeah everything's fine. I'm just concerned whether or not the others will like me?" _Goddammit, I am so bad at lying._ "You know you can trust me right?" He said, holding my hands to his chest. "Anything, anything that's bothering you, tell me. I want to help." I blushed at the contact, but it quickly faded away and I put my head down.

"I know." I mumbled. I couldn't tell him. At least not yet. But it was killing me to keep him out. Maybe I should just tell him? I mean tell him _everything._ Not just about Obito and I meeting, but where I'm originally from, and what I know is going to happen to him. The internal struggle is _so real_ right now. But right now, I knew was not the time to say anything. It will have to wait, even if I don't want it to.

I shook my head, "It's alright, and it's nothing I can't handle on my own." I told Shisui truthfully. He gave me a doleful look, "But you don't have to." He said softly. I shook my head again before taking my hands from his. I turned away from him and walked away.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Shisui." I said, waving over my shoulder. I heard no response, but he didn't come after me. I walked home quickly, rushing through the door and into my room, ignoring the strange looks given to me by both Itachi and Sasuke. I whipped my vest off, tossing it carelessly into the corner before flopping onto the futon, face stuffed into my pillow.

I heard a knock on my door. I didn't respond.

"Suchiru?" Itachi asked. "Is everything ok?" I grunted. "Did your training go well?" I grunted once again. I was met with silence. My door slid open and closed, and Itachi walked over to the side of my futon, sitting down beside it.

"Why are you only grunting for responses?" I shrugged my shoulders. I didn't really want to talk to anyone at this point. He moved my hair so he could see my eye. "...What's going on? Did you and Shisui have a fight?" A muffled 'no' came from me. "Alright then, do you not like your new team?" I sighed, moving my face so my mouth was not obstructed anymore.

"No, they're okay." His eyebrows furrowed, trying to figure out what was wrong. "Are you going to tell me what's going on then?" I sighed again, trying to think of a way to get advice on what to do without actually revealing information. "Hm.." I started.

"What if… Okay. So I have this friend," he nodded. "and they know something kinda important." He nodded again. "I don't think it's too important right now, but it will be later. Should they tell someone, or just keep it to themselves until the problem actually arises?" He looked to be in thought for a moment.

"I think… wait, do you know how big the problem will get?" I scrunched my nose. "I guess it will be kinda big. But, like, not until, maybe ten years from now? Maybe sooner?" I told him, trying to remember the timeline of their world. He tapped his chin with his finger, evaluating the information I gave him.

"Well, if it's not too important right now, and there won't be any repercussions for withholding it, then they should only tell someone if they feel comfortable. But I'm guessing if they don't, it's going to eat them alive." He finished. I took what he said in, debating on saying something. There were pros and cons of doing it now, and doing it later. I figure since we are all pretty young, there's no point in doing it now, and decided on later, when people would actually understand me.

"Thanks, Itachi." I said, patting his leg. He smiled at me, before speaking again. "Do I know this person?" I looked at my pillow. "Not well…" I answered quietly. His smile fell, and he nodded. "Well," he said while getting up. "If you need anything, I'll be out in the back with Sasuke." I nodded, listening to him walk to my door, sliding it open then closed again.

What was I going to do?

….

A knock on the door resonated through the house. Little feet ran past my closed door, rushing to get to the door before his older brother. I was far enough away from the front of the house where I couldn't hear it open and people talking. I curled back up into my cocoon that I had made for myself, trying to get back to sleep. My door suddenly slid open, allowing a cold draft to waft over my room.

"Time to get up, Nee-san!" Sasuke yelled, making me cringe a bit. I took the covers and pulled them over my head, trying to get the boy to leave. More footsteps were heard before my blankets were ripped off of me. I groaned loudly at the cold as tired to search for my blankets.

"Suchiru," Itachi started, "Shisui is here to pick you up for your mission. You better get ready quickly." I growled before getting up, my hair sticking up in every direction. I walked down the hallway and looked around the corner so I could see the front door. Lo and behold, Shisui looking as innocent as ever. I gave him a good glare before turning back around and going into my room, slamming the door in front of the two brothers.

"I'll be out in a minute." I told them, hearing Sasuke snicker then walk away. I went through my drawers, grabbing the necessary under clothing and my mesh armour. I then moved to my closet, picking out a black turtleneck with sleeves that came down to my elbows. I then grabbed my black 'slouch pants' and put them on, taping from my ankles until mid calf. I picked up my previously discarded vest and shrugged it on, leaving it open in the front. Last but not least, I grabbed my weapons pouch. I upgraded to just one, removing the one from my leg and getting a bigger one for my back, setting my tanto on top of it.

I opened the door and made my way to the front and grabbed my headband from the foyer table. I tied it around my head, making sure the village symbol was at the top. I said my goodbyes and walked out the door with Shisui, walking out into the streets of the compound.

"Not much of a morning person, are you?" He asked with a snicker. "Absolutely not." I responded. He only laughed at me, making me glare at him. "Oh, by the way, Taji and Shun are going to meet us at the Hokage tower." I nodded and shoved my hands into my pockets, kicking the dirt up in front of me. I was _definitely_ not a morning person. I typically stayed up most of the night anyway, so when I was woken up at say, five or six in the morning, I was not a happy camper. 'Why don't you just go to sleep earlier?' I just can't. It's easier for me to stay up late, then feel like utter crap in the morning. But whatever, right? Everyone's got different sleeping patterns.

True to his word, Shun and Taji were waiting outside of the tower for us. We said our hellos and walked up to the Hokage's office, knocking and waiting for him to let us in. We got permission, and Shisui led the pack and we followed in, standing behind him as we bowed.

"We're here about a mission you have for us?" Shisui asked Hiruzen and he nodded, reaching for a scroll on his desk. "Yes, it's a B-rank escort mission. You will be taking a small caravan to the Hidden Valley village in the Land of Rivers from Tanzaku." We all nodded in unison and Shisui took the scroll. He looked it over for a moment then spoke up.

"It says here that the caravan is only four carriages. Wouldn't this be considered a C-rank? What information are we missing?" The Hokage sighed, leaning his forehead on his hands before talking again. "The only route that they are going to take is one that is highly trafficked by bounty hunters and rogues. The village elders had decided to take a bit of a vacation to Tanzaku, and want a team to escort them back. Understood?" We nodded again. "Alright then. Be in Tanzaku in two days. Dismissed." We bowed and left the office, making our way down the stairs and out into the streets of Konoha.

"Alright, I want everyone packed and by the village gates in three hours. We'll get halfway there today, and the rest of the way tomorrow. That way we have a day once we are there to set up guard schedule and look over our equipment." Shisui told us before we split up to our respective homes. I walked into the main Uchiha household and made my way to my room and began to pack.

I grabbed a plethora of kunai and shuriken, packing them in accessible areas in my bag, while putting the leftovers in my pouch. I threw a couple paper bombs and smoke bombs into the mix, and then started packing extra clothes and finally a bedroll to the top of my pack. I walked it over to the front door and left my tanto sitting up next to it. I walked down the hall to the kitchen, going into our 'missions' cupboard and grabbing a few soldier pills and packaged foods.

"Where are you off to?" Mikoto asked me from behind. I quickly tied up my bag and stood to face her. "We've got a mission. We have to escort a caravan from Tanzaku to the Hidden Valleys Village. Should only take about a week or two." She nodded, "Yes, it seems you and Itachi both are finding ways to keep busy and away from the village. It's nice that you two have done so well as shinobi." I thanked her, taking my leave to meet the others at the gate, knowing I'd be a bit early.

I took my time walking through the village, grabbing a stick of dango on the way. I walked by the Aburame clan grounds, peering over to see if Shibi sensei was out. He seemed to be teaching Shino. I guess they train early too. I waved over to the two, receiving waves back. I continued down the trail, looking at the people mill around, going about their daily business. I passed by one branch of the Konoha police department, some of the officers waving over to me, at least the Uchiha ones did. I lazily waved back, knowing the only reason they were doing it was because I lived with Mikoto and Fugaku.

I reached the gate only a few minutes later, seeing no one from my team there. Sitting on the bench beside the gate checkpoint office, I pulled out a book from my pack. It was one that I had recently started reading, out of irony. _'Tales of a Gutsy Ninja'_ was the name of it. It was actually a decent book, and I could definitely see the qualities that Naruto would eventually have. It took me a while to find it too, and I had to go to a discount book shop to get it. I was in the second chapter, where the main character had to fight a giant centipede, totally grossing me out.

After a while of ready, a body plopped itself down beside me. I finished reading the line, then turned to face Shisui who was trying to read over my shoulder. "Whatcha reading?" He asked me, grabbing the book from my hands. "It's called Tales of a Gutsy Ninja. Jiraiya actually wrote it." He nodded, flipping through the book quickly.

"You should read it. It's quite good." I told him, taking the book from his hands and packing it back with the rest of my stuff. "I might." he said. "So are you ready for your first mission as a part of Team Shisui?" I stifled a laugh, but answered. "Yes, I am ready to have a mission with _Team Shisui._ "

"Why did you say it like that?" He asked, glaring at me. "Say what like what?" I tried my best to look innocent, but it wasn't working too well. "Ah, never mind. It's more trouble than it's worth." he mumbled. I rolled my eyes before standing up and stretching.

"So when are the other two gonna get here? I wanna get this show on the road." he shrugged. "Usually they get here in the last five minutes, which _are_ coming up, so shouldn't be too long." I nodded, then patted my flak jacket pockets, making sure everything I needed was there. It was, so I put my pack against the arm of the bench and laid back against it, stretching my legs across Shisui's. He only leaned back, closing his eyes and waiting for the others to turn up. The two arrived minutes later, both carrying their own packs. We all made sure we had everything we needed before finally setting off to Tanzaku.

….

We traveled until the sun went down, then picked a spot to settle down and set up camp. It was a small clearing, about twenty meters away from a small stream. I looked around the area, checking for anything before setting up our own traps. I noticed marks on the trees, and got closer, noticing the x's that marked some of them. I smiled to myself, realizing this was the same place that Kakuzu trained me to throw kunai.

"How does it look?" Shun asked me from his spot on the ground, making a small fire. I turned to face him, "Nothing in the immediate area, so we are good to go." He nodded and called over to Taji, who then quickly started setting up the traps. I assisted in starting the fire, using a bit of lightning ninjutsu to light it. Soon enough, it was big enough to heat the surrounding area a bit, and we started setting up our sleep rolls. I had first watch, so the other scarfed some food down quickly before getting to sleep.

I heard movement beside me, and looked over to see Shisui staring at me. "Can I help you?" I asked quietly. He turned onto his back and put his hands behind his head. "Did you get your problem fixed?" I looked at him for a bit.

"I kinda did. Temporarily, anyway." He nodded. "So what's it about..?" he asked hesitantly, not sure if he should actually ask. I put my head down for a bit before answering him. "You'll find out soon. I just have to figure a bit more out before I start letting people in, ok? I promise that you will be the first to know." He seemed to think for a while before smiling at me.

"Thanks, I really appreciate that." I gave him a small smile, pushing him a bit. "Get to sleep. You have next watch." He only laughed before closing his eyes in attempt to get sleep. I looked at him, realizing how lucky I was to have a friend like him. My smile fell a bit, thinking about what I was going to do when the time comes to actually tell him. Would he get mad and turn away?

….

We woke up early the next morning, gathering all our supplies and traps. I was on lookout duty, making sure no one snuck up on us as we prepared to leave. Shisui called me down, letting me know that everyone was ready to go, and we moved on. "So what, we have a couple hours to get to Tanzaku, right?" I asked our squad leader, and he nodded. "Yeah, maybe five, six? We should be there by noon, or soon after." I nodded, then turned my attention back to the road ahead.

It was a quiet journey to the small town, everyone on the lookout for anybody who tried to attack us. Shisui led us on a straightforward path, making sure we got there as fast as we could. It didn't take long for us to reach the gates of the town, and we stood outside the main gates for a bit, catching our breath. Shisui took our paperwork and walked up to the guards, handing the sheets over. They nodded to him, and he waved us over, now allowing us into the town.

I looked over the mission scroll we had received from the Hokage, noting the hotel name that we are supposed to be staying at. We found it after a few minutes of walking around and walked into the lobby, booking our rooms and proceeding into them, setting our stuff in and getting comfortable. Shisui and I shared a room, while the other two had their own. I flopped down on my futon, putting my hands behind my head and closed my eyes.

"So what are we supposed to do while we wait to meet the client?" I asked the boy beside me. "Well, we could go out around the town, but since we are underage for literally anything, we won't be able to do much." I sighed, sitting up and wrapping my arms around my knees.

"Well, I want to get something to eat, then maybe visit the hot springs for a quiet bath." He nodded, agreeing with me. I rummaged through my bag, grabbing my wallet before standing up and heading to the door. "Join me if you want. I'm going to the grill place that's down the street." He stood up and stretched, before walking out the door and going to our teammates room.

"Yeah, I will. I'll grab these two before meeting up with you." He told me before knocking on their door. I waved off to him, walking down into the lobby and out into the street. I started down and entered the small shop, asking for a table for four. They showed me to a table near the back, putting down the menus and turning the grill on. I was shortly joined by my other teammates, and we ordered our food.

"So this caravan we are supposed to be protecting, it's pretty small, isn't it?" Shun asked, and Shisui nodded. "Yeah, only five carriages, I believe. Why?" Shun looked a bit disgruntled before shrugging his shoulder. "I just feel like this mission is suited more for a genin team. Why put us on it?"

"Well," I started, "It's for the village elders of the Hidden Valley village. They need decent protection." Shun only rubbed his temples, not liking this already. "I guess. I just don't have a good feeling about this." I laughed.

"It seems like you never have a good feeling about anything." Taji retorted.

….

I am trash. Here ya go.


	10. Chapter 10

I sat on the top of the first carriage, a pair of binoculars sitting beside me. Shun was walking beside the last one, keeping one of the girls company while we made slow progress down our current path. The other two, of course, were sleeping in the carriage that I sat atop of. It had been three days since we started on this quest, taking turns with watches, and talking to the elders and their maids.

It had been so boring. The elders had no real shinobi experience, just in the position 'cause they lived in the village for so long. _'They're wise.'_ Was what Taji told me. Yeah right. They're just old as hell. I huffed to myself, braiding different strands of my hair together, trying to keep myself occupied while waiting for the other two to wake up and take over.

The flap to the back of my wagon opened up, revealing a very dishevelled Shisui, which I guess was just Shisui in general. I grasped his hand and hauled him up to the top of the wagon as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes with a lopsided grin.

"Hey there, sleepin' beauty. Have a nice nap?" I asked him ruffling his hair to its proper state. He yawned in response before taking a seat next to mine. He glanced at me before making a face, and then grabbed one of the braids that I had made. "What's with all these?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "I was bored. Shun is talking up one of the few maidens over there, so I've been up here by myself." He gave a snort before looking at the boy in question. As I told him, Shun was talking to the girl, while she blushed madly. I shook my head before turning my attention to the road ahead of us. I sighed to myself, resting my head on my hands while lazily scanning the horizon. We were approaching a steep mountainside, where we would have to slowly make our way down the side on a very _very_ narrow path, one that barely fit the carriages.

When we reached the edge, we saw the grand valley below, and the many rivers than ran throughout the land. It was quite beautiful, to be honest. It stretched out for miles.

One of the maidens called us over to talk to our squad. Shun winked at his female friend before grabbing Taji from his slumber. Shisui and I jumped down and walked over as she patiently waited for the other two to join us. She waved her hand over the vast land before speaking.

"This is the Land of Rivers. Quite breathtaking, isn't it?" "Very." I responded. "But as beautiful as it is, this is the most dangerous part of our journey, aside from the constant threat of bandits. The path down the face of the mountain is unfortunately very narrow; therefore we need to take it at about half the speed we've been going." She explained with a pained expression. "And we need to be extremely careful. There is a group of bandits that tend to use this to their advantage."

"So we'll need everyone awake and aware for this portion of the trip. Sorry Suchiru and Shun, looks like you guys get to pull a double shift." Shisui told us, taking charge. We all nodded, getting into our positions. I stayed at the front of the caravan, while Shun and Taji watched the three middle carriages, and Shisui brought up the back.

The maiden took the lead, guiding the lead ox down the path. I walked beside her, keeping my eyes open for any strange movement. My eyes landed on the woman beside me, and I looked her over. She had a kind face, always smiling. Bright blue eyes, and her lilac coloured hair was done up in an extravagant bow. The clothes she wore reminded me of a shrine maiden, the classic white top and red pants. I was brought back to the present when I heard her voice.

"Are you not a little young to be a shinobi?" I blanked at the question, "Well, no, not really. At least not where I come from?" I tried to explain. "Most people begin their training at a young age in Konoha. And some even younger than others. I started learning when I was barely three. It's a bit odd, now that I think about it." She seemed to be deep in thought over my answer.

Then she stopped. Just stopped walking. I looked over to her, and noticed she was staring in front of us, eyes squinted. I looked in the same direction and noticed a few odd bumps on the side of the mountain. I immediately jumped to the top of the first carriage and called out for our squad leader.

"Shisui! Come'er!" He jumped over the carriages and next to me as I pointed out in front of us. "What are those?" He squinted, trying to see what it was. "Not sure, give me a sec." He then activated his sharingan, "They're definitely shinobi. Their chakra networks are too defined for anything else. And they happen to be sitting right over the path."

"Well what are we going to do?" I asked him as he deactivated his eyes. "I'll stay up front with you just in case. Excuse me, miss?" He directed his attention to the woman in the lead. "Would it be ok for us to lead the caravan at this point? I'd rather have everyone inside and protected than out in the open." She shook her head, much to our confusion.

"I can be useful. I am not just a guide for this caravan, but also a medic. Besides, Shida only likes when I guide him." She explained to us while stroking the nose of the ox. Shisui looked at me to say something, and I just shrugged my shoulders. "As long as she stays to the back of the action, she should be fine, I think." He considered his options, but decided to let her stay.

"Alright, I'll let the others know what's going on. When we move, you stay with her, Suchiru. No arguments." I nodded and our guide smiled kindly at us. I jumped down and stood beside her. "I never did ask. What's your name?"

"My name is Michiko." I nodded with a small smile. Shisui then appeared in front of us, nodding. "Alright, let's keep going then." The caravan started back up again, everyone on their guards. No doubt that the shinobi in front noticed us stopping, but with any hope they weren't raiders. So far we haven't run into any, and I don't want our luck to change.

We inched closer, the shapes getting clearer. I inwardly groaned. They were Iwagakure shinobi, and they were armed to the teeth. I laid a hand on the handle of my tanto, and took another step in front of Michiko, trying to keep her behind me without being too suspicious. Shisui put his hands behind his head, trying to appear relaxed, but also having his hand near the handle of his own tanto. I looked over to Michiko, smiling at her gently. She nodded hesitantly, knowing that I was warning her to be on her guard.

As predicted, they jumped immediately into action. One of them caused an avalanche using earth ninjutsu. I jumped and clung to the side of the mountain and formed a few seals, then slapped my hands against it. A large canopy of earth sheltered the caravan from the tumbling boulders, and I nodded to Shisui and the others.

"We're good here, get them!" They jumped into action, taking on the five shinobi. I stayed with the caravan, just in case any of our enemies got by. I was suddenly grabbed from behind by the back of my shirt and roughly shoved off of the side of the mountain. I twisted to grab two kunai with thread attached to them, throwing them into the cliffside. I pulled on the threads, swinging myself full force into the side of the mountain, grunting at the impact.

I stood against it, using my chakra to stay in place. The others seemed to be fine with their opponents, easily taking on what seemed to be chunin level shinobi. I ran back up to Michiko, only to find her sitting against the side with a stab wound in her stomach. I grabbed a few bandages from my pack and quickly pressed them to her wound, "Are you alright?!" She nodded yes, and then proceeded to heal herself. "It's alright, I'll be ok. Go join your friends, make those bastards pay for messing with our caravan." I stared in shock at her words, but did as she told me.

I jumped into the action, swinging my tanto at one of the men going for Taji, cutting his back. He went down, and I moved on to the man who threw me off the side of the cliff. I threw a few shuriken at him, which he easily dodged. He came at me with his khopesh, swinging down and forcing me to deflect the blow with my own sword. I ducked in anticipation of his next swing, only to get a swift kick to the head, bouncing it roughly off the mountain side.

I grabbed my head, trying to stop it from spinning. The man grabbed the front of my shirt and lifted me off the ground, holding his sword back for the stab. I barely had any time to process what happened before a hot white pain shot through my side. I looked down to see his blade covered in blood. My blood. He pulled his sword away, making me gasp in pain before he promptly dropped me to the ground.

I held my side, trying to stop the bleeding, but found I couldn't. This was the first time I had gotten a wound this bad, and to be honest, I wasn't sure what to do. Of course it was easier to take care of other people; you weren't the one in excruciating pain. The man stood above me, a dark smile on his face.

It didn't last long before a sword was run through his heart. He was kicked forward, his face landing beside where I sat. I looked down at him, only to see the smile. It made me incredibly uncomfortable and uneasy seeing that expression.

But I couldn't look away.

I heard yelling beside me, and then someone grabbed my shoulders, shaking me roughly. I looked at them from the corner of my eyes, only to see Shisui's worried face. He was speaking, but I couldn't hear him. Only muffled words. I felt a warmth wash over my stomach, it seemed that Taji was healing me. I closed my eyes, trying to focus on anything but the dead man beside me. Suddenly, I felt tired.

"Suchiru, please stay awake." Taji spoke. I hummed a yes, and opened my eyes again. The man was no longer there, seeming pushed off the edge if the blood stains gave any indication. Shisui kneeled down in front of me, looking at me with concern. I gave a small smile, trying my best to look okay, but it did little to assure him.

"Are you alright, Suchiru?" he asked me. I nodded. "I'll be alright. I get worse from training with Fugaku." He gave a small laugh, but I could tell he really didn't buy it. "It's good to know even on the brink of death, you still have a sense of humour." Shun spoke as he walked over to us, the other bodies nowhere in sight.

"Of course, I have to. It's to balance out the blandness the two of you have." I retorted, pointing at Shun and Taji. My side was feeling a lot better now that Taji was healing it. I was lifted up as soon as he stopped, and carried over to the front of the first carriage, and seated on the small bench that sat behind the ox. Michiko seemed to be up and running, calming the animal from the spook it just received. The others went back to their posts, looking out for any more raiders that may be around.

….

We reached the bottom of the mountain in no time, and picked our pace back up. I decided that I had enough time to recover and climbed back up to the top of my carriage. Shisui was sitting and looking around when I plopped myself down beside him. He looked over at me, smiling.

"How are you feeling?" I shrugged my shoulders. "Good. It has healed up nicely, so it doesn't really hurt anymore. _And_ while I was sitting there in boredom, I looked through my pack and discovered that I still had a few dried peach slices." I said, waving the fruit in his face, only to have it promptly swiped and eaten by him. I gave him a glare while he tried to look as innocent as he could.

Fortunately the village was only a few hours away from the border, even at the pace we were going, so we reached it just after sundown. We made the transaction with the elders, who on top of paying us also supplied us with a place to stay the night. We graciously took the offer, and made our way to the hotel.

We entered our rooms, setting everything away and just taking time to relax. I flopped down on my futon, letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding. The door slid open to reveal one of the employees with a cart of food for us. We thank her and dug in, relishing the warm food.

"So, that wasn't really a B-rank. At least I don't think it was." I spoke while the others ate. "Well," Taji started, "that's coming from the only one of us who was stabbed. I think that Iwagakure really skimped out on their shinobi." I stifled a laugh, swallowing the rest of the stir fry I was eating before answering.

"That, or we aren't out of the clear yet. We still have to travel back. And that will take at least two days from here." Shun commented before I could. I shrugged my shoulders, stuffing my face again. The others finished their food quickly, then headed off to the hotel hot springs while I stayed behind and finished up my own food then cleaned up the room a bit.

I grabbed a towel from one of the cupboards, and an extra set of clothes and made my way down to the springs. I stripped down and removed my bandage from around my waist, wrapping a towel around me and walked out into the small bathing area. It felt like a huge weight had lifted off me as soon as I sat down and enjoyed the water. I let out a deep sigh, sinking into the water so just my nose was above the surface.

A few other women came in and joined me, talking amongst themselves as I kept to myself. They were loud and rambunctious, to the point where I had finally had enough and decided to get out. I quickly wrapped myself and made my way into the small change room, wrapping my wound and getting dressed. I walked back to the room, but the boys weren't back yet, so I relished in the quiet, getting comfortable in my futon and grabbing my book.

….

I was woken up before the sun came up the next morning. We ate a quick breakfast and were out on the road as soon as we could. The majority of the trip was spent in silence, which I thought was really out of character for someone like Shisui and Taji, given the two were quite loud most of the time. I guess them in their free time was different from them on missions.

We passed the big cliff we had our battle on the day before, quickly scaling it in only a few minutes, then passed the border into the Land of Fire, back into familiar territory. Only, it was eerily quiet, even more so than normal. I felt a cool air wash over me, and a wave unease settled in the pit of my stomach.

"Shisui-" I started, only to get cut off by a barrage of kunai. I whipped out my tanto, deflecting what I could, but still getting cut from a few. Someone dropped down in front of me, catching me by surprise. I flipped backwards, landing on the ground and getting ready for an attack. But none came.

"Uchiha Suchiru?" The cloak clad figure asked, his deep voice sending chills down my spine. I didn't answer, only looked up at him with slit eyes filled with confusion and anger. My team was gone, either not noticing I'd been attacked, or busy with this guy's friends. I gripped my sword tighter in my hand, my other ready to reach for my weapons pouch.

He flickered away, appearing right in front of me instead. He held a kunai to my throat, but I didn't budge. We would have had a stare off, but unfortunately I couldn't see his face, covered by his mask. That was when I realized that it looked exactly like one of the anbu masks that the black ops or the Foundation members wore back in Konoha had.

 _The Foundation…_

"You're here to take me to Danzo, aren't you?" I asked the masked figure, taking a slight step back. He didn't move, and he didn't speak. That was when I knew I was right. I turned tail as soon as I could, using my wind style to speed myself up. He was almost silent in pursuing me, and I knew this was not the time to skip out on speed. I pushed myself hard, harder than I did when even Obito was chasing me.

I saw light between the trees, a clearing coming up. All I needed to do was get there, and hopefully, if my thinking was right, he wouldn't follow me out into the open. As I approached the tree line, I turned around, tanto in hand and braced myself for the landing. But I didn't land. Maybe I overestimated how high I was?

That notion was quickly dismissed as I watched the edge of the earth pass my line of vision.

"Suchiru!" I heard as I plummeted towards the forest below me. I quickly glanced towards the voice and saw my team watching over the edge of the cliff, then disappearing as I fell below the treetops, hitting every branch on the way down, and a sharp pain on my head.

Then nothing.

….

 _Wow my head hurts so goddamn much. Oh god, am I dead?_ I attempted to open my eyes, but the bright white light forced me to close them again. I groaned in annoyance, rubbing my eyes furiously. Over the course of the next two minutes, I slowly opened my eyes and allowed them to adjust to the light. I looked around, noting my surroundings. I was in a hospital room, the window open next to me and Taji sitting in the chair next to my bed.

"Taji…?" He looked over and closed his book, a sigh escaping his lips. "Where are we?" I asked him, trying to see out of the window.

"We are back in Konoha." I hummed in response. "What happened? After I fell off, I mean. The last thing I remember was seeing you guys at the edge of the cliff then nothing." He rubbed his eyes and crossed his legs in his chair.

"After you hit the trees, Shisui jumped down after you, even though he could have very well ended up in the same situation. Shun and I took a more rational way to get down before meeting up with him. When we got there you were out cold, cuts all over you. Then we picked you up and brought you home. Took us another day, but we got here." I blinked, wondering how long I was actually out for.

"It's been six days." I coughed, looking away in embarrassment. "Eeh, sorry for the inconvenience." He gave a short laugh. "Trust me, _you_ were not the inconvenience." I raised an eyebrow at his statement, and opened my mouth to ask what he was on about, but the door to my room slid open, cutting me off. A tired Shun walked through the door, a take out bag in one hand, a box in the other. Shisui walked in after him, a bit gloomier than his usual self.

"What's with you two?" I asked with a smirk. Shun only sighed exasperated, while Shisui's head immediately popped up and a huge smile broke out of his face. I returned the expression, albeit not _as_ enthusiastic as him. He walked over to the side of the bed, and I opened my arms with an eye roll, knowing well what he wanted. He wrapped his arms around my waist, burying his face in the crook of my neck, squeezing the daylights out of me. I hugged back, laughing.

"I thought you were dead." he said quietly to me, so the other two didn't hear. My eyes widened in surprise before I hugged him tighter. "I told you already. I won't go that easily." Shisui pulled back, a goofy grin on his face. Taji coughed beside us, bringing us to the present.

"If you two are done, I have a question for you, Suchiru." I gave him a little finger guns. "Shoot." He rolled his eyes before speaking again. "What exactly led up to the moments before you went sailing over the cliff edge?" I thought back, a hand on my chin.

"Well, we were on our way back to the village when a barrage of shuriken came out of nowhere. I deflected most of them, and then landed on the ground." He nodded along, the other two listening intently. "Some guy in a cloak and mask-" I decided to leave out the whole 'anbu/ foundation' part. We don't need that. Yet. "-asked my name. I didn't answer him. Instead I elected to run away from him, and when I looked ahead I saw what _looked_ to be a clearing, but unfortunately wasn't. I turned to see if he was following me, then off the edge I went."

"He must have been with the guys that attacked us then." Taji muttered. I raised my eyebrows at him, urging him to elaborate. "After we got split up, two guys came out from nowhere and attacked. We dispatched of them easily thanks to Shisui, but it was quite odd. They almost looked like anbu or something." I furrowed my brows, thinking of the possibilities. Could they be coming after me because Danzo knows who I am? Or is he already making his move on Shisui? I wouldn't doubt the possibility of the former, but there is a chance of the latter, if Shisui's eyes have the abilities that Danzo is looking for.

"When am I allowed out of the hospital?" I asked, changing the subject. Shisui's face lit up, "They said when you wake up. All they have to do is check and see if everything is good, and then we can leave." I closed my eyes in relief.

"Thank the gods."

….

I sat at the kitchen table, tapping my finger on its surface, accompanied by an impatient Sasuke, and Fugaku, who seemed to be deep in thought. Mikoto was moving around the kitchen, finding anything to keep herself busy while we waited on the Uchiha prodigy. I huffed, leaning back and sprawling myself on the floor, legs still crossed. The youngest groaned in annoyance, the now seven year old getting quite impatient with his older brother.

"Mooom, I'm hungry! Do we have to wait for him?" Mikoto sighed, bringing the tea to the table and sitting down herself.

"No, Sasuke. We have to wait for your brother. It's only fair." I leaned back up, resting my elbows on the table only to get a swat from Fugaku. I grumbled, removing them to my lap, and instead resting my chin on it instead, only to get the same treatment. My head just fell to the side, but quickly snapped up when I saw the glare I was receiving from him. Sasuke snickered from across the table, and I only glared at him in return.

The front door slid open and then closed a moment later. A few moments passed before the eldest child walked through the doorway and graced with his presence. He sat down quietly, smiling gently at his parents before opening his mouth to speak.

"I have some news." My eyebrow rose, and his parents sat up attentively. "I've been promoted to captain." Mikoto clap her hands excitedly while Fugaku congratulated him with a slap on the back. Sasuke stared up at him in admiration and I kinda just sat there. I stared at him, wide eyed. I completely forgot that this would happen. Now it kinda just feels surreal. I gave him a smile before congratulating him.

The rest of the dinner went by, Sasuke raving about how great his big brother. I sat in a silence, only responding when asked a question. Itachi noticed something was off, but left it alone until he met me in the backyard as I sat on the edge of the porch. He sat down beside me, saying nothing. I swung my legs, swiping my toes across the blades of grass.

"Is everything alright?" His voice cut through the silence. I hung my head low, not really knowing what to say. "I'm not too sure, to be honest with you." He gave me a sad look, "Is it that problem that you had a while ago?" I couldn't believe he remembered that. I laughed quietly.

"Not really. I mean, it's kind of a part of it, but I'll be fine. I promise." I told him, holding out my pinkie. He sighed, but lifted his own pinkie to meet mine. I gave him a grateful smile, and he returned it after a moment of hesitation. These next couple of weeks are going to be a bit rough, and knowing what is about to happen, if it does, might actually kill me inside. I'm going to have to keep a close eye on Shisui, knowing that his suicide is what triggers the main event. I don't even know if they've been having the meetings either, and if they have, then I was seriously out of the loop.

"Is there anything weird you've noticed going on? Something that I'm not in on?" I asked him, turning to fully face him. He was surprised by the sudden question, "I'm not sure what you mean." I exhaled through my nose, turning away from him.

"I mean like, _Uchiha only_ kinda deal." His eyes widened in realization, then smiled softly. "We consider you an Uchiha. If there was anything of the sort, you would be included, no question about it." I rubbed my forehead roughly, trying to get the growing sensation of oncoming tears to go away.

"Father is proud of you. Once you left for your first mission with your team, he talked about how much you've grown since you've arrived. Mother thinks the same way and Sasuke… thinks the world of you. You're as much of his sibling as I am." That was it. The tears started streaming down my face. Itachi stood up and walked in front of me, awkwardly opening his arms. I gave a short laugh before embracing him, crying into his shoulder, thanking him a dozen times.

….

A few days passed, and everyday I had found myself an excuse to tag along with Shisui, not that he necessarily minded. Today, we were out training our swordsmanship, out in one of the isolated training grounds. Our swords clashed with a screech, and I pushed him away and cart wheeled backwards.

"Come on, Shisui, at least put up a bit of a fight. I can handle it." I said to him with a smirk, getting back into a fighting stance with my tanto out in front of me. He let out a low chuckle, "Don't ask for things you don't want." I flickered in front of him, bringing my weapon down in a wide arc, forcing him to block. "Now when did I say that?" I asked before flicking him in the nose. He pushed me off of him, grabbing a kunai from his pouch.

Then he froze.

I raised an eyebrow at him, unsure of why he suddenly stopped. "Shisui what's wr-" He raised his hand to silence me. I watched his face, and then notice his eyes. His sharingan was activated, and he was looking directly behind me. I didn't move, not one inch. I felt someone behind me and immediately flickered away, landing in a crouch beside Shisui. Where I was standing moments before, three Foundation shinobi stood, weapons drawn.

"What are you doing here?" Shisui asked them, venom laced in his tone. They didn't answer, only throwing a barrage of kunai at the two of us. We both dodged them, heading into the trees for quick cover. The others were quickly upon us, throwing kunai and shuriken in barrages at us, yet only aiming for our lower bodies. One of them threw a paper bomb in front of us, and it activated just as I passed it. I was sent sprawling to the ground, burns and cuts littering the left side of my body.

"You idiot, he said to aim for the legs, we need their eyes." My heart dropped upon hearing the words, but my surprise was cut short when Shisui appeared in front of me, quickly grabbing my arm and hauling me away.

"Shisui, they want your eyes!" I quickly informed him. He grimaced at the thought, and quickly dove down behind a tree. I followed him down, standing in front of him. "We need to get out of here. Back to the compound." I told him as quietly as I could. He shook his head, "They won't stop." He pushed me behind himself, Danzo appearing out of the woods in front of us.

"Danzo… I knew it was you." I hissed at him, hating the man with every fibre of my being. He only stood there stoically, one arm in his shawl and the other holding his cane. The Foundation members stood behind him, making this quite the uneven battle.

"The Uchiha," He started, staring spitefully at the two of us, "are not to be trusted. They started the attack on the village, with the nine tails, only to _'save'_ it, making themselves out to be the heroes. And I know I'm not the only one who feels this way." He took a deep breath before waving his subordinates off, and they disappeared. Though I knew they weren't gone. They were just waiting. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. I kept my guard up.

"There are whispers in the village, what people say when they don't think anyone else is listening, that the Uchiha are going to attempt to take over the village," I choked, covering my mouth, and looked up at Shisui, who visibly tensed. Did he _know?_ "And that is not acceptable. Your little suggestion to the Hokage- should it ever happen- will not solve the problem. It will only delay the inevitable." I started shaking, there's no way that this could be happening! Danzo must be speaking lies. There haven't been any signs whatsoever, not until this very moment.

"The distrust of your clan grows among the village-" Shisui finally spoke up. "I know. It's not hard to see the way people look at us. But given the time they'll see-" Danzo interrupted Shisui, not wanting to hear anything from him.

"Once someone is suspicious like me, they don't change. So what's your decision?" He asked, taking a step forward.

"L-Lord Danzo-" "When the time comes, will you use your Kotoamatsukami on Suchiru too?" He moved forward again, inching closer with every word he spoke. I grabbed the handle of my tanto, ready to intervene if necessary. "I-I'm-"

"Your sharingan will be safe with me!" He launched himself at Shisui, going to grab his eye, but Shisui was too fast. As soon as Danzo looked into his sharingan, it was too late. But I knew it wasn't over. There was no way he was going down that easy. "It's only genjutsu. He'll snap out of it quickly. But before he does we need to leave Suchiru." He spoke quickly, but paused when I didn't move from my spot. I knew what was going to happen. There was only one way to save him from losing his eye, and it was a bit unfortunate for me. "Suchiru we need to go _now._ "

I saw the miniscule twitch from the corner of my eye, and waited for my opportunity. Danzo disappeared from between us, re-appearing to punch Shisui in the stomach- _c'mon_ \- then the head- _just wait for it-_ then kicked him upward, giving himself enough time to take his eye. But it didn't happen. I quickly shoved Shisui out of the way of the man's outstretched hand placing my head exactly where Shisui's had been. I felt his fingers surround my eye, press behind then rip it out, the pain immeasurable. I let out a strangled cry as I hit the ground, one arm barely supporting myself and the other pressed against my empty eye socket. I jumped back to give myself space, and looked up at the bastard. He deposited my eye into a jar, and then quickly stashed it away.

"Girl, your eyes are not the ones I want, but I can always add new sharingan to my collection. Once I take your other one, I will come for yours next, Shisui." He growled from behind me, and then used a fire style to attack. Danzo's lackeys were back, shielding their master with a water style. Under the cover of the mist, Shisui grabbed me and supported me as we escaped.

We kept going for a few minutes, neither of us saying a word as I tried to stifle the pain, but failed miserably while tears poured down one cheek and blood down the other. He sat me down behind a large rock, leaning my head gently against it. I hissed, the pain in my socket getting worse. He quickly searched his pouch for some bandages, taking my hand away from my injury and replacing it with a gauze pad with ointment on it. I bit down on my knuckles to stop myself from screaming out, only letting out a small whimper.

"You're gonna be okay, Suchiru. I promise you'll be okay." He said to me in a hushed tone, pulling me into his chest. I gripped onto his shirt, trying to keep my voice down as much as I could, though I couldn't do much about the sniffling. I heard a soft thud behind Shisui and froze, but he only continued to sooth me.

"What happened here?" I heard Itachi voice speak out quietly. Shisui looked up, shaking his head. "Not here, we need to leave the area." My arm was lifted around his shoulders, leaving my left to try and attempt to sooth my aching skull. Itachi looked at me with concern, but did not say anything until we reached the training grounds by the Naka River. I shuddered at the thought of being here at this point. Shisui lowered me to the ground, allowing me to lean on him.

"What happened to you two?" Itachi asked hurriedly, concern showing on his feature quite evidently. "It was _Danzo._ " I spat his out, absolutely disgusted with him. Shisui hushed me, knowing I wasn't exactly _helping_ the situation.

"Danzo sent members of Foundation after us. He wants the Kotoamatsukami. She sacrificed her own eye to save mine. He believes that she has the sharingan, which may save us some time." Itachi looked incredibly guilty, and it made my heart ache. "Stop it with that look, Itachi. None of this was your fault. You couldn't have possibly known." I told him, but he only looked to the ground, making me think that there was something more going on then I knew.

"A few days ago, you asked me if there was something that we were keeping you out of." I nodded, knowing exactly where this was going. "There have been a few of the clan that believe that because it was the Uchiha who stopped the attack, that we deserve more recognition in the village. Father has been trying to defuse the situation, but I fear that at some point it may get out of hand." He explained to me, somewhat afraid of my reaction. I sighed, grunting as I lifted myself off of Shisui.

"Thank you, for telling me. I appreciate it. But I kinda already had a feeling that something was amiss. I wasn't sure what, but lately the air has been a little colder."

"So you're not mad at us?" Shisui asked me, curious. I gave a small laugh. "No, I'm not mad at you. I could never be mad at the two of you." His posture relaxed, and Itachi let out a sigh of relief. "Anyway, let's get back home. We have to let Fugaku know what happened." I said to the two boys as I got up. Shisui offered me a piggyback ride, which I gratefully took, and we made our way to the compound, making record time.

I slid off of him, and we entered the front door, brushing my fingers through my long hair in attempt to make it somewhat neat. I peeled my bloody shoes off of my feet, the boys following. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and Itachi gave me a smile before walking in before me. Shisui offered me his arm, and I grabbed it, allowing him to be my guide for the evening. Fugaku and Mikoto sat at the table; Sasuke was in his room, being later at night. Their expressions read confused as Itachi entered the room; he was supposed to be on a mission. Then a small gasp left Mikoto's lips as she saw me with bandages wrapped around my eye and forehead.

Fugaku immediately stood up, "What the hell happened?" he demanded from the three of us. Shisui helped me sit down beside Mikoto, and she undid the wrapping around my head, tears escaping when she removed the gauze pad covering my empty eye socket. She quickly grabbed a few ointments from the cupboard, and then came back to me, attempting to heal the gouge with medical ninjutsu. The two boys- mostly Shisui- informed Fugaku what happened, and his anger kept building with every sentence that was spoken.

"Mikoto," he spoke quietly, "prepare her." She ceased her healing right away, helping me up and to a room down the hallway I don't ever remember seeing. As the lot of us entered the room, Fugaku lifted up a floor tile, revealing a set of stairs. I hesitantly walked down them, using the wall and Shisui as support. Even the two boys were as confused as I was.

"Mikoto and I have been discussing this for a while now, Suchiru." he began, searching through various drawers that lined the walls, picking out different medical equipment as she opened a small chest that sat beside an operating table. I couldn't say anything. I was scared. I gripped onto Shisui's sleeve a bit tighter as he set an almost glare on the clan head.

"You've been with our family ten years, and it was only a matter of time before we brought it up." he continued. "Think of it as a sort of… initiation, into the clan. We planned on transplanting the eyes when you became sixteen, but it seems like fate wants to push things along a bit faster than we wanted." I was shaking where I stood. This wasn't like the two of them at all. I looked between the two of them, Fugaku looking as professional as he usually did, and Mikoto standing by his side, the jar with a set of eyes in her hands.

"Why?" I asked shakily, fear set in my eyes.

"Because as far as we are concerned, you are an Uchiha." My eyes widened, and now I realized just how much of an impact I've had on this family. I nodded, letting go of my human crutch and walked over to the table, lying down on my back. "You two need to leave." Fugaku commanded the two boys. Shisui stepped closer to the table, "I'm not leaving her." he said defiantly.

"It was not a suggestion."

"Shisui, please. I'll be fine." I told him, trying my best not to cry. He let out a low growl before turning face, Itachi following closely behind him. I took a deep breath, and nodded my head.

"Alright, let's do this."

…

alrighty then back from my little hiatus. uuh lots of stuff going on in this chapter, I'm trying to speed things along to the main storyline. Let me know what you guys think of the eye transplant. Either she keeps the eye but doesn't have super spectacular powers with it, or she doesn't keep it and she becomes a badass pirate.


	11. Chapter 11

_There was a flash of pain in my left eye. I tried to cry out, but I couldn't move. I wanted to tell them to stop, that I wasn't ready after all. I attempted to reach out. To anything, anything that was near me, but my hands were tied down. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't move. I couldn't speak._

 _I was scared._

 _The worst part was that I knew no one was here. No one could help. No one could comfort me. I regretted sending those two out of the room, but the look he gave me. Anger. Confusion. Guilt. All these emotions wrapped into one awful expression that I couldn't bare see on his face. I felt awful._

I heard muffled talking near me. I tried opening my eyes, but something was blocking them. I lifted my hand, hesitating to touch my face, not knowing what I would find. I softly padded the sides of my head, feeling the bandages wound tightly around. I furrowed my brows, trying to find where the end of the bandage was, but having no luck. I growled in frustration and felt around the bed I currently occupied. I hit something, it felt like a glass. I tried searching for it again, only to knock it over and send it flying to the floor with a loud crash. I flinch, and felt my face grow hot, even with the lack of surrounding people. A door slid open and then I heard a soft laugh.

"Suchiru, you're awake." Mikoto said, before touching my arm. "I am, but I'm blind." She laughed again. "Well, we'll take the bandages off in a moment. Let me get Fugaku." I nodded hesitantly before hearing her walk off. I wonder if anything would be different. Would people still look at me the same?

The door slid open and a few sets of footsteps walked in. I fidgeted nervously, not expecting an audience for this. "Is Suchiru-nii okay now?" I heard Sasuke ask. A small weight sat down on the bed near my toes. "Well, we will see in a few seconds, Sasuke." Mikoto told him. Someone walked over to my right side, and I felt a pair of hands work around my head.

"Now don't open your eyes right away, let them adjust." I nodded as I felt the last of the cloth leave my head, and slowly opened my eyes, hearing a gasp as they did. My eyes adjusted to the light, and I looked around the room. Sasuke was sitting at the end of my bed, and Fugaku and Mikoto stood beside each other on my right, waiting patiently for me.

"Everything still looks the same." I told them truthfully.

"Well, you aren't exactly _using_ them right now. You'll need to activate them to notice a difference." Mikoto explained to me, and I nodded. "So how do I do that then?"

"Just send some chakra to your eyes. It will require more chakra consumption then we use, given that you are not an Uchiha by blood." I sent a small amount to my eyes, feeling something different. I looked around the room and noticed that everything was a lot… sharper. I mean, I had good eyesight before, but now it was like fifty times better.

"How does it feel?" Fugaku asked, leaning to get a better look. "Normal, I guess? Like, they aren't hurting or anything." He nodded, and then walked out the door. I lifted an eyebrow at Mikoto, but she only smiled and followed him. I looked over to Sasuke, only to see him with stars in his eyes.

"Wow, you're gonna be just like Itachi now!" I gave a small laugh, scratching the back of my head. "I guess. Maybe I'll even be _cooler_ than Itachi." He gasped dramatically. "But nobody is cooler than Itachi, that's impossible!" I only laughed, messing up the kid's hair, much to his discontent.

"Hey kid, why don't you let me get cleaned up and I'll treat you some ice cream?" He gave a big smile before nodding furiously, getting up and exiting my room. I got up and looked through my closet, grabbing a black long sleeve v-neck shirt and a pair of classic white shorts and black sandals. After getting dressed properly, I stretched out, my muscles unused. I walked out of my room and down to the front entryway where Sasuke stood, ready to leave.

"Alright trouble, I'm coming, we can go now." He gave a small cheer as we exited the house and walked down the streets of the compound. As we walked, I pulled my hair up into a messy bun, leaving my bangs down and my headband around my neck. Sasuke bounded around ahead of me, excitedly waving to the rest of the clan. I wonder when the last time Itachi had spent any time with the kid. I would suspect he was busy in anbu, being a captain and all.

Then there was my team. It had been at least two weeks since I last saw Taji and Shun, and I haven't seen Shisui since before my surgery. Maybe then went on to do more without me? I looked up, and called Sasuke back to walk with me.

"So where is your brother?" He smiled up at me, "He is on a mission given just to the Uchiha! Father sent an elite squad to complete it and Itachi _and_ Shisui are both on it!" I sighed, resting a hand on my forehead and closing my eyes. "So they left me to deal with you by myself." He gave a big huff, crossing his arms.

"They actually left _me_ to help you." I gave a small glare to the kid. "I'm not a helpless old lady, I can take care of myself."

"You think I want to help you walk around? I'd rather be out training." Sasuke complained. I shrugged my shoulders, lifting my hands. "Well, it's too bad that I'm not a ninja, otherwise I could help you out." I told him with a smirk. He stopped walking, making me turn to him with my hands on my hips.

"Yeah!" He suddenly shouted, jumping in the air. "You can train me! _After_ we get ice cream." He took off towards the small shop that housed said ice cream. I only rolled my eyes at his antics before following after him at my own pace.

….

Almost two weeks passed before we heard anything from the elite squad. They had completed their mission but had critically injured, and couldn't move them far without injuring further. We had no word on which was injured, but we prayed they could be helped. A small three man squad with two medics was sent out, so we were stuck at home waiting. I tried to make my way into it, but Fugaku said I wasn't ready for the field yet, and I still needed more training to get the basics of the sharingan down, even though I thought that those two weeks of intense training with them was enough.

It was a cool autumn evening, and Sasuke and I had been walking around the compound after a couple hours of training. We were only a couple blocks away from the house when I saw a figure traversing the rooftops. Normally, it wouldn't faze me. But tonight, it was something different. It was a bit off, and I was determined to figure out what it was. Fortunately, (or unfortunately) I wouldn't have to wait long.

The figure stopped, and then slowly turned its head in our direction. That on its own was incredibly creepy, on top of the fact that it was also wearing a familiar mask. Orange, one eye hole, and black markings on it. I tensed up, and Sasuke looked at me weirdly. He pulled on my wrist, trying to get my attention.

"Suchiru, what's wrong?" I didn't look at him, "Stay behind me, okay?" He gave me a questioning look, but I had no time to explain. The masked man appeared in front of me, delivering a swift punch to my cheek. I flew back a couple of feet, trying to recover. I didn't have my tanto or any kind of tools for that matter, so it would have to be purely hand to hand, considering I didn't want to destroy the compound.

"What do you want?!" I yelled at him as Sasuke ran to my side. He remained silent, instead choosing to attack. I scoffed, taking him head on. He threw punches left and right, continuously hitting me. Every time I tried to land a hit, I would just faze through him, and it was getting quite frustrating. I activated my sharingan, now able to see his moves more clearly, and was able to dodge them much more easily.

I braced for an incoming punch, aimed at my shoulder. But at the last second, his wrist flicked out and a metal rod protruded from the palm of his hand. I grunted, but slammed my hand on the rod, melting it on impact. I roundhouse kicked him, pushing me off of me. He let out a low growl, coming at me again.

"You need to be put down!" he hollered, using both hands and pushed the rods out again, only to have them melt when I hit them. I tried grabbing his shirt, but I fazed through, and he ran behind me, heading straight for Sasuke. My heart dropped and eyes went wide, I pushed myself to get to him. He held Sasuke up by his collar, and I took my chance. I dove for his knees, making him buckle under the pressure. He dropped the boy and I scrambled up to punch his face, only to hit the ground. I turned over quickly, seeing the man tower above me. He laughed maniacally, and then stabbed me right through my stomach. He tilted his head as I gasped in pain, then repeated the process with both my thighs, then pushed my shoulders down with his foot, readying himself to do the same with my arms.

He suddenly turned his head to see two figures standing behind him, both with swords out. He scoffed, "I'll be back to finish this in a moment. Try not to bleed out." I only glared at him in response. I looked over to the figures, noticing both of them had glowing red eyes. One was clearly Shisui's mangekyo sharingan, and the others were Itachi's.

 _Wait. Itachi's mangekyo sharingan?_

The two of them engaged the masked man, and I waved Sasuke over quietly. "Sasuke, can you get these things out of me? They hurt a bit." He nodded nervously, but moved to my legs, grabbing one of the rods and pulling. It barely budged, and I leant my head back tiredly. "You can do it bud, I believe in you." He adjusted his grip and pulled again, and I felt it move. I grunted in pain, but nonetheless endured it. As soon as it left my leg, I let out my breath. I nodded to him and motioned to the other. We repeated the process, giving me my legs back. I ripped the one from my torso out and melted it down and formed a tanto. By the time I was up and ready to fight again, the man was gone and the other two were running up to me.

"Oh god, are you okay, Suchiru?!" Shisui asked me quickly, and I nodded. "I'll be fine, thanks to you guys." I told him, just before my legs buckled underneath me, and I hit the pavement hard. Itachi walked up to us briskly after looking around for the intruder. "We should bring her back to mother, she can help." Shisui nodded and picked me up, setting me on his back and Itachi stayed by Sasuke's side. I grabbed on and we set off. As we made our ways through the streets, we noticed blood. There was blood everywhere.

"What's going on? What happened here?" Shisui demanded from me. "I don't know. Sasuke and I were out training. We were on our way back when that guy attacked us." We continued on, seeing a lot of people lying in the streets, all of them dead. My stomach dropped, and I realized where in the timeline we were at. The Uchiha massacre. I shuddered, tapping Shisui's shoulder.

"We need to get back to the main household fast. I have an extremely bad feeling." He nodded and held onto me tighter, and then he and Itachi picked up their place quickly. We arrived and I was put down just inside the front door. Itachi left Sasuke with me and he and Shisui left to look around the house. I sat down against the wall, letting out a shaky breath. Sasuke looked through the closet, grabbing a few bandages and ointments.

"Go see if there are any bottles of sake in the kitchen?" He nodded quickly, and going out to find one. I looked through the ointments, picking out one that I figured would speed up the healing process. Sasuke came back with a bottle, and I popped the top off and chugged some of it. "Please turn around." I asked the boy and he complied. I stripped from my shorts, leaving me in just my v-neck and panties. I poured some of the sake over the wounds, hissing at the sting. I then rubbed the ointment on, and then wrapped them. I repeated the process with my stomach and shoulder, wrapping them both. I decided staying seated in the entryway was best so I didn't irritate my injuries.

Shisui rounded the corner a few minutes later, a very glazed look on his face. He just looked up to me, saying nothing, and I understood. I stood up, using the wall for support and he walked over to me, putting his arms around my waist and hugging me tightly. My torso stung a bit from the pressure but I didn't say anything. Itachi came in a few seconds after, walking over to Sasuke and speaking to him softly. The tears came rolling pretty quickly, and soon he was bawling.

We all sat there in the front entryway until the sun came up the next day. Sasuke had fallen asleep after crying for almost an hour, while the boys and I stayed up, completely silent. I got up, using the wall again, my wounds more sore than they were when we arrived. I walked down the hallway to the meeting room where I remember their slaughter in the series happened. I opened the door, and there they were, surrounded by their own blood. My lips trembled, and a couple tears fell down my cheeks.

These were the people who looked after me, trained me and took me into their family. And just like that, they're gone. I could have done something, anything to warn them. But I didn't. My knees started to shake, but someone grabbed my arm and slung it over their shoulder, guiding me out of the room.

"Where are we going?" I asked him softly. "I'm taking you to the hospital. Itachi is going to the Hokage to tell him what happened." I nodded and hobbled along with him. When we got to the front door, Itachi was waiting with Sasuke, who looked as though he was just freshly crying. Shisui switched to piggyback mode, and he, Sasuke and I made our way to the hospital.

It was hard to walk through the compound, seeing everyone just _slaughtered._ Most of them were probably sleeping, too. The coward couldn't even make it a real fight. I tightened my grip around Shisui's shoulders, tucking my head down. The thought of Obito at this point made me nauseous. We walked into the hospital, and immediately there was a nurse by our side. They guided us into a room just down the hallway, and I was set down on a bed.

Shisui refused to leave my side, and I was thankful. The nurses took the wrappings off my legs, arm and torso. They began healing right away, two of them working at the same time. Sasuke sat on a chair in the corner of the room, head down. Shisui tried to talk to him a bit, but he was just unresponsive. The nurses gave us strange looks, but otherwise did not pry.

Soon enough we were sent on our way, my legs only sore now, but I was able to walk with little limping. The three of us walked to the compound again, only to see it crossed off with police tape. They must have acted right away to get here and cross everything off. There were many people moving about inside, moving the bodies for cremation. Itachi appeared beside us, holding a small jar in his hand.

"They are my fathers." He said, lifting it so we could see the pair of eyes floating inside. "They'll burn the rest of the bodies, so there's no chance of anyone getting any others." I looked at him with a bit of hesitation. "Did you request that Danzo stay out of the cleanup?" He nodded and I let out a sigh of relief. As long as Danzo wasn't here, and he didn't know about the room that was hidden underneath the main house, then we should be fine.

….

"Shisui?" I asked, opening the door to his apartment. It had been almost three months since the massacre, and while everything had been cleaned up, we decided to stay in the compound, much to the confusion of the Sandaime. Of course, it was to protect it from some nosy villagers, which we found more than a handful of times sneaking around. Itachi, Sasuke and I stayed in the main household, and Shisui stayed in his old apartment.

I walked in, looking around the eerily quiet house. I thought he would have been home at this point, he said he would only be gone a few hours, and that was four hours ago. I set my hands on my hips, going into the living room and peering down the hallway where the rooms branched off of.

Only to find nothing.

I glanced over to the clock, noticing that it was fairly close to dinner time, and took it upon myself to make him dinner, knowing that if it was instant noodles or something he could just throw in the microwave, he would just _conveniently_ forget to eat. I tied a dark blue apron adorning the Uchiha crest on, and started looking through his fridge for anything he could have.

'Some raw chicken, which expires tomorrow, a couple different vegetables, and different types of sauces. Alright, I can work with this.' I thought to myself as I grabbed everything I thought I would need out. I started up the stove and set a big stir fry pan out. I tenderized the meat and threw it in, spraying it with a bit of water before moving over to chop the veggies up. After tossing them in, I grabbed some soy sauce and dumped a generous amount in.

I heard the door click open behind the wall of the kitchen, then someone breathing in deeply. I peeked around the corner to see Shisui walking down the hallway.

"What are you doing?" He asked as he entered the kitchen, looking over my shoulder at the pan. "Well, I'm making you dinner since you barely cook." He hummed contently as leant in closer to the pan, smelling it again. "And you're just on time, it's almost done. So if you want to get out some bowls or whatever?" He nodded and went through his cupboards, grabbing two bowls and the required utensils. We sat down and I served the meal. He took a couple bites, nodding. "This is really good." I smiled as I took a bite of mine.

"So… How come you're here? Just a social call?" I swallowed my food, and looked up at him. "Well, actually I came to talk to you about something important." His usual bubbly demeanour fell, and he grew serious. "Remember a while ago, where you kinda figured out that something was wrong, and then I told you that you would be the first person I told when I figured it out?" He nodded. I gave a big sigh before continuing.

"Well I finally figured it out, so that's why I came over today. I wanted to tell you." He leant his arms on the table, giving me his full attention. "So it's kinda about the massacre, and I am almost one-hundred percent sure on who did it." His eyes went wide and he stood up abruptly, slamming his hands on the table. "When did you find out?" I flinched at his sudden outburst, and swallowed.

"It wasn't until recently that I was sure, but if my connections make sense, then I know I'm right. That man, the one you and Itachi were fighting and eventually drove off?" He nodded, "Well, the first time I ever saw him was the first practice with our squad. When I was looking for you, I ran into him and he attacked me, which is the _real_ reason I was running away so quickly." His gaze lowered upon hearing that.

"I wish you would have told me then. I could have done something about it." He said quietly. I gave a soft smile, "I didn't tell you because at that point it didn't matter, he was gone." He shook his head. "It doesn't matte-"

"It does. Please, Shisui. If I knew something could have been done then I would have done something _myself._ He was an unknown at that point; still is now, for the most part." I tried explaining to him. He sighed, not in defeat, only wanting me to get on with it. "So who is this guy then?" I took a deep breath.

"Uchiha Obito."

….

" _Ugh_ will you just _do it already?!_ " Hana groaned from beside me. I jumped, spitting out the water I was currently drinking. Her three ninken woke up from their naps, giving the girl quite a glare. I gave her a questioning look, setting my water down. "What are you talking about? And keep your voice down, people are gonna think you're crazy." She ran her hands down her face dramatically, groaning again.

"I think you know _exactly_ what I'm talking about." My expression remained the same. "Do I literally have to spell it out for you? You and Shisui! You guys are always together, and my god the way you look at each other when you think no one is looking?!" I went twenty different shades of red, not just from the subject, but also how loud she was being. "Good god girl, _please keep it down!"_ I whispered harshly at her while glancing around, noting the bystanders' giving us odd looks.

"Well come on," she continued, now quieter. "You guys have even moved in together. You can't tell me that you're still just _friends._ " I buried my face in my hands, now completely embarrassed. "Hana, the only reason we moved in together was because we're on the same team and it was easier. _No other reason!_ " She gave a hearty laugh, slapping her knee.

" _Please._ You can't fool me. I've got a nose for this stuff." She said, pointing at said nose. I rolled my eyes as I gained my composure back, and crossed my arms. "Sure you do. And I've got a nose for fish." She continued to giggle her butt off, much to my displeasure. We heard yelling down the street, and she peeked around me to see what the commotion was. Kiba was running down the street, Akamaru barking happily on his head.

"Here comes your biggest fan." Hana whispered to me, a sly grin on her face. Kiba ran up to the two of us, giving us a thumbs up as he stopped. "Guess whose team made it into the chunin exams this year?" he said coolly. I gave a big smile, "Is it the Hyuuga boys?! Oh, he's _so_ cool." I said, waving my face with my hand. His head dropped and he mumbled. "No, it was mine…" I gave him a small laugh.

"I figured. I was just messin' with ya, kid." Then I thought about it. If today was the day they were getting accepted, then I would have to check in on Sasuke. "Alrighty, Hana. I'm gonna split and check in on the kid. I'll see you later." I told her as I started down the road. I've taken to calling Sasuke 'the kid', cause I know how much it bothers him, and it gets a good laugh out of his teammates. I shunshined my way over to training ground three, where they usually trained together. As suspected, the three students were there, and their sensei nowhere to be found.

"Oi!" I called over to them, getting a glare from Sasuke. Naruto welcomed me with a big smile, and Sakura waved. "Suchiru! What're you doing here? I thought we were meeting up with Kakashi-sensei." I put my hands on my hips, giving a big sigh.

"Well it seems that Bakashi is late once again, and I have beaten him here unintentionally. Again." A new signature arrived in a storm of leaves, causing my hair to whip wildly around me. I growled slightly, pushing it back out of my face. "Maa, you know that hurts my feelings, Suchiru." He said nonchalantly, referring to the name I had given him.

"I only use it because it describes you perfectly. I would know." I told him, crossing my arms and giving him a bit of a glare. "You know you two look so similar when you do that." Kakashi said, pointing between Sasuke and I. Giggling, I threw my arm around Sasuke's shoulder, "Of course we do, we're siblings!" I told him, putting my face right next to the poor kids. Sasuke's face turned an embarrassingly bright shade of red, and I pinched his cheeks. "So cute." I said, making Naruto burst out laughing.

"Anyway! Kakashi, I assume you are bearing these shining stars with good news?" I asked him, walking back over to stand beside him. "Ah, yes. Here you guys go." He said holding out the familiar forms. Sakura walked up and plucked them out of his hands, looking them over carefully. Naruto came up behind her, peering over her shoulder. "Eh, Sakura-chan, what are they?" She stayed silent for another moment, before her eyes went wide and a smile broke out on her face.

"They're chunin exam registration sheets! Kakashi-sensei, does this mean we get to participate in the chunin exams?!" She asked excitedly, as their sensei nodded. Naruto ran up to me, "What were your chunin exams like, Suchiru?" I laughed nervously.

"Well, mine took place in Iwagakure, and then the finals were here. I don't want to say anything about them, 'cause otherwise you would get a leg up in the competition, and that's not fair." His shoulders slumped, and he started whining. "But Suchiruuuuu~!" I bopped him on the head, ceasing the annoying sound that erupted from his mouth. "I said no."

"Maa, you're so mean to the kid." I gave Kakashi an incredulous look. "Like you're any better, Kakashi-senpai. You were the same way with me these past couple years." He waved his hand dismissively, and I cracked a smile. "Alright, kid. Let us go to the local ice cream parlour and indulge ourselves in your accomplishment." Sasuke groaned in protest.

"I told you to stop calling me that."

….

We walked through the door of the main Uchiha household, ice cream in hand. I shrugged off my black haori, setting it on the hooks in the front entryway. We both walked into the kitchen where Itachi was making some tea, seemingly just home from a mission. He looked up at the two of us, giving a soft smile.

"How is the Hokage's number one guard doing this fine evening?" I asked with a big smile on my face. "Better, now that I'm home and get to have a delicious treat." He said, grabbing the ice cream from my hand. I frowned at him as he gave me an innocent smile.

"What are you two doing home so early?" Sasuke lifted the sheet of paper for his older brother to see as I helped myself to some freshly made tea. I leaned against the countertop, sipping on the green tea as Itachi's eyes scanned the paper. "This is great, Sasuke. I'm proud of you." He told him, giving him a genuine smile. Sasuke still didn't look too happy about it though.

"Hey, what's up? I thought you'd be happier than this." I asked. He crossed his arms, "You guys were chunin by the time you were ten." I gave him a soft look. "Well, it was a bit different then. They were promoting a lot of kids early, since it was just after the war." He shrugged his shoulders, still unhappy about it.

"So Suchiru, where's Shisui?" I looked up from my cup, shrugging. "Saw him leave this morning, but he didn't tell me where he was going. I hung out with Hana all day, so I never saw him around the village, either." Sasuke scoffed from beside me. "I thought you always knew where he was." He mumbled, and then received a swift smack to the side of the head. "Listen kid, with that attitude, don't ask me for help with your training for the chunin exams." I told him as he rolled his eyes. "I wasn't going to ask _you_ anyway."

Itachi quickly stepped between the two of us before it got any worse. I smirked, setting my empty cup down and heading towards the front of the house. "Well, I'll see you two later." I said, waving. "Alright. Thanks for the ice cream." Itachi commented with a small smile. I rolled my eyes and exited the house, heading to the apartment I shared with Shisui. It has only been about a year since I moved in with the boy, purely for convenience reasons _only_. _And_ to help his awful eating habits.

I climbed the stairs to the empty complex, unlocking the door and walking in. It was dark and quiet, which wasn't unusual as of late. Both Shisui and I had been picked out for the anbu special forces, their emergency response team. We had a good pay check, even if we hadn't done any missions, so we were okay with it. _That_ , and it was a two man team. We didn't have to worry about looking after anyone but ourselves, which was great. The only thing I didn't like was that we were on-call, so that meant people showing up in the middle of the night when I was sleeping.

I threw my haori over the chair at our table, leaving me in just my dark blue sleeveless one piece, which the legs cut off just a few centimetres under my butt. I had a thin white obi around my waist and a red rope that was tied around it to keep it in place. My boots were black too, and looked just like Karin's, from what I remembered. All one piece, except for the soles of the shoes, which were white.

I sat down on the singular couch we had and picked up Tales of a Gutsy Ninja, a book that I've read so many times I've lost count. Just as I turned to the third chapter, a knock sounded at the door. I sighed and got up, making my way over. I opened to see an anbu waiting patiently outside.

"Hey." He nodded to me. "The Hokage would like to see you." He spoke quickly before disappearing. I walked back into the apartment and grabbed my haori, making sure the Uchiha clan symbol had no dirt on it before shrugging it back on. I closed the door as I walked out, and then turned to make my way to the Hokage's tower.

When I arrived, I knocked and waited for the usual allowance. I opened the door to see Shisui. "Yo!" he said, waving a lazy salute. I smiled back at him as I approached the desk. I placed my hands at my sides, bowing deeply. "You needed to see me, Hokage-sama?" I asked politely.

"Yes of course. It's about the chunin exams. I want you two on protection detail. During the second phase, in the Forest of Death, then during the finals. There will be others as well, but I want to address team by team." We both nodded. "Of course." He then went on to explain how each team had a sector that they would look after, and that wireless radios would be used to contact the other squads. We left shortly after, leaving no room for chit chat. We walked out of the room and down the tower stairs, reaching the doors and stepping out into the cool evening.

"So," I started. "Where have you been all day?" He gave a sly smirk. "That's classified little lady. If I told you, I would have to kill you. And nobody wants that." I rolled my eyes at him. "Please, you wouldn't hurt a hair on my pretty little head." He quickly brought his hand up, plucking a strand of hair from my head. "Wow, you're rude." I told him with attitude. He only smiled brightly and let the strand go in the wind. Fast footsteps approached from behind us, and then someone slung their arm around my shoulders.

"Hey, you two finally on a date?" Hana practically yelled into my ear. I went bright red, and tried to give her my best death glare. "No, actually we just came back from the Hokage's office. He's getting us to be on the protection detail." Shisui said, completely missing (or ignoring) what Hana said. She let out a loud groan.

"Shisui, when are you gonna take Suchiru on a date?" He gave me a coy look. "If you wanted to go on a date, Suchiru, all you had to do was ask." he chided me, while I covered my hands with my face, internally screaming. " _Hana!"_ a muffled screech came from me. She only shrugged her shoulders with an innocent look. I glanced over to Shisui, and he had a big grin on his face. I briskly walked away from the two, a muffled scream coming from my hands. I could even _hear_ the two of them laughing behind me, what assholes!

The whole way home I was absolutely fuming. _'I can't believe she would do that! Actually, on second thought I could.'_ Sure, I liked Shisui, but did I _like_ Shisui? I mean, I guess I kinda did? I like hanging around him and vise versa, but I don't know about a relationship. I mean, like I don't know if I'm even dateable. _Hold up._ Did he even see me like that? I will not just _ask_ him either. That's a definite no.

I opened the door to the apartment, slamming it behind me. I just stood in the front entry way, completely embarrassed. I'm part of anbu, but I get flustered at the thought of dating. Some frickin' shinobi I am. The door opened back up behind me, making me jump and quickly turn around. There, standing in all his glory, was Shisui. He gave me an innocent smile.

"So... What was that?" he asked me. I stuttered. "I-I uuhm that was Hana being Hana?" I tried, but he only stood there with a smug look on his face. "Right." Cue crossed arms of non-believing. I gave a shameful look, hoping he would just drop the subject. He looked down at me, being 5'11 and me a measly 5'5.

"C'mon. We've known each other for forever. Lived together for a year. You can tell me anything, you know." I nodded, my face heating up again. But I stayed silent, rubbing my arm nervously. He lifted an eyebrow at me, looking me over curiously. He leaned in closer, getting incredibly close to my face, and I bent backwards a bit, trying to keep a bit of distance. He lifted his hands and grabbed the sides of my face.

Then he kissed me.

….

haha. okay. uhm. Bad at writing romance, so it's super awkward, but so is Suchiru, so it pans out in the end. Finally starting to get to the actual plot of naruto now, so that's exciting.

Fun fact #1: I originally wanted to do this as a Kakuzuxoc story, but decided against it.

Fun fact #2: I was super close to letting some of the Uchiha live, then decided to leave it with the Super cool revenge squad™ of Suchiru, Shisui, Itachi and Sasuke.

Fun Fact #3: I had a whole plot planned out if I decided to do the whole 'Shisui committing suicide thing.' I guess it's a good thing I didn't, cause that wouldn't be much of a love story.

Also, it was brought up about Danzo thinking she's an Uchiha last chapter. At that (and this) point so far, he thinks that she's an Uchiha. Now that she's got the Sharingan, it kinda enforces the idea, and no one would really know she wasn't, except for the Hokage and those she already chose to tell. Hiruzen was the only one aware (other than Fugaku and Mikoto) about Suchiru's situation.

And _yes!_ Kakashi had tutored Suchiru for a bit about using the sharingan as a non-Uchiha, because she trusts him with all her little secrets.


	12. Chapter 12

My mind was going a mile a minute.

His hands on my cheeks, his lips on mine. I closed my eyes, leaning into the kiss. I felt the smirk on his lips, but elected to ignore it. I grabbed his shirt, closing the open space between us and wrapped my arms around his neck. His hands moved to my hips, grabbing them and pulling me forward, regardless if there was no space left. He was being gentle as our lips moved together, and it felt perfect, to be a tad cliché.

We pulled apart hesitantly, not really wanting it to end, but having to breathe. We just stood there, looking at each other for what felt like hours. Eventually someone couldn't keep a straight face, bursting out with a big grin and picking me up and spinning me around. A small 'eep' left my mouth as I grabbed on for dear life, laughing along with Shisui. He set me down and just looked at me.

For a pretty long time.

"What?" I asked him, lightly poking him in the chest with my finger. He smiled softly, "You're beautiful." I felt my face heat up immediately, not exactly being used to the compliment. I dropped my head so it was resting on his chest, softly mumbling. "Thank you…" He starts laughing, and I smack him lightly.

"Stop, it's not funny." I attempt to tell him. "God, and you're cute." he says as he calms down. I stomp my foot, letting go of him and crossing my arms. "I am _not_ cute." Shisui leaned forward and kissed my forehead, then walked around me. "You are too." I glared at his retreating form, and then proceeded to walk into my room. I flopped down on my bed and shoved my face into my pillow. I couldn't believe that just happened. I _also_ couldn't believe how excited I was. I kicked my legs around, and then flipped over with my pillow still attached to my face.

"You should learn to close your door." I heard from said door. I froze, slowly turning my head to see Shisui leaning against my doorframe, arms crossed and a smug look on his face. I threw my pillow at him. "Get out, Shisui."

….

The next day I walked out to Hana's place, telling her what happened.

" _Oh my god!_ Are you serious?!" She practically screamed into my face. I back away a few feet. I was seriously considering my choice in female friends right now. "Yes." I answered, barely able to keep the smile off of my face. She squealed some more, then picked me up and spun me around repeatedly.

"Ok, Hana, that's enough." I told her, taking a deep breath when she finally set me down. "I'm sorry. But I've been waiting for this for, like, _ever._ So don't spoil it for me when it finally does." I could only roll my eyes at her, and that goofy grin that she would not stop.

"C'mon," Hana went on, "you have to admit; he's pretty good looking, and one of the top shinobi in our village? You're lucky, girl. I would kill to get a chance with someone as _half_ as good as that." I lifted an eyebrow at her. "And what makes you so sure that you can't? You're gorgeous, and a killer kunoichi." She only shrugged her shoulders, and then continued to grin at me.

If I rolled my eyes and harder they would get stuck in the back of my head.

….

"Oh shit!" I yelled as I flipped the covers off of me after getting a look at my alarm clock. "We're gonna be late!" I hopped out of bed and started putting on my black turtleneck, and stumbled across the hall to Shisui's room, grabbing the handle and pushing the door open quickly. I fell over, attempting to put my pants and started yelling at the sleeping man.

"Shisui! We are gonna be late! Get your ass up!" I only heard groggily mumbles coming from his bed. "Boy, don't make me come over there and rip you outta bed!" I threatened from my place on the floor. Still nothing. I hiked my pants up and jumped on his bed, landing right on him. "Shisui, the chunin exams are today! We have a mission!" He immediately shot up, his head colliding with mine. I flinched back, giving him a glare.

"Oh shit! I completely forgot!" he shouted, getting up and ready. I scrambled back up and past him and out to the front entryway, grabbing my sandals. I did all the straps up then grabbed my pack, securing it to my waist. I tied my tanto on just above it then grabbed my bear shaped mask. He rounded a moment later, his wolf designed mask in hand. He quickly got the rest of his gear and we left, rushing our way to the Hokage tower.

When we arrived, the other anbu were already lined up and kneeling in front of the Hokage. We joined them quickly, and as soon as we settled Hiruzen began to speak. "How nice of you two to join us." He said with a small smile. I nodded, grateful for my mask to hide the massive embarrassment on my face. He went on to explain our objective. No interference unless absolutely necessary, which meant if someone who wasn't supposed to be participating in the exams was, take them down. _'I guess that means we have to watch for Orochimaru then…'_ I thought to myself. If I could prevent Sasuke from getting the curse mark, then a lot of hassle would be avoided. Each of us was assigned a 'district' in the Forest of Death, and were handed our wireless radios.

"Suji no hachi." I checked in with the rest of the teams. We all nodded to each other, signalling that we were all ready before making our way to the forty-fourth training ground. When we reached the front gates, an anbu captain was waiting for us, giving us our sectors. We had sector eight, so Shisui and I entered and started over to it. We ended up having the area in front of the gate, so it would be quite easy to keep tabs on Orochimaru. Even then, I knew that it would be more than likely he would know we were.

We traveled about a kilometre in, picking a relatively tall tree and set ourselves up in. I summoned Onikuma, a bear that stood about fourteen feet tall on his hind legs. He was a deep brown colour, and was quite passive unless provoked. He was wise and incredibly strong, so I was glad that we got along well. I gave him a big smile as he poofed into existence.

"Suchiru, what can this old bear do for you this time? Is that boy still giving you trouble?" I scratched the back of my head. "No, Shisui is behaving." I said as the man in question gave a thumbs up. "Actually, what I need is for you to help scout around the area. It's the chunin exams, so don't mess with anybody yet. Though I do need you to keep an eye out for a Kusagakure team. One that has a male, late teens/early twenties, long black hair, wearing a beige, black and purple ensemble. Good?" He gave a curt nod and wandered out into the forest. I looked back to my partner, nodded and jumped off with him in tow.

"Why does he always assume that I'm doing something bad?" I gave a quick snort, "Because most of the time you are." I flipped onto a branch, hearing our radios buzz. " _The exam will begin in t minus one minute. Get ready._ " I crouched, checking my weapons one last time making sure they were all sharp and easily accessible, and then heard the air horn signalling the beginning.

….

Man, were genin ever slow. We had already received news that the sand genin had made it to the tower in just less than two hours, a new record. Onikuma hadn't come by since the beginning, and no other news of interference was heard from the other anbu. As of now, Shisui and I had moved four more kilometres in, setting ourselves at five in from the gate. Something nudged my foot, making look down.

"I have located the target." Onikuma notified me and I nodded, tapping Shisui's arm. We watched as Onikuma climbed back down, then followed him from high up to where he last saw Orochimaru. When we arrived, the battle had already started, and Orochimaru was burning the scroll in his hand. He was talking to Sasuke, about power to defeat the man who killed his clan. Then he made a familiar hand sign and his neck stretched outwards towards the boy. I jumped between them immediately, blocking the bite with my armguard.

"I don't think so." I hissed at him, going to stab his neck with a kunai. He reeled back to his body with a dark glare towards me. I drew my tanto out, remaining silent as he yelled at me. "Who are you?!" He seemed a tad upset that I had foiled his plan to give Sasuke the curse mark. How unfortunate. I smirked underneath my mask as Shisui tended to the kids to make sure they were ok.

I dove in for an attack, only for him to melt into the wood. As he disappeared he growled at me, "This is over. I will be back for him." I activated my sharingan, glaring down at him. "You can try." Orochimaru's eyes went wide for a moment, just enough for me to catch his surprise. He then disappeared, leaving me to go back to the genin team.

"How's everyone doing?" I asked in my professional anbu voice. Naruto was currently unconscious, retrieved from the side of a tree by Shisui and set down by Sakura. Sasuke didn't look too happy, not being able to take on Orochimaru by himself. "I think we're okay now, thanks to you two." I nodded to the lone girl and walked over to Sasuke, shoving his head to the side to check for any bite marks. He was clear.

"Don't be too hard on yourself, kid. There's no way you would have been able to take him on by yourself." I said while ruffling up his hair. He only glared at me, knowing who I was almost right away. "Alright, from now on you guys are by yourselves. Make sure you make it to the next round, 'kay?" Sakura nodded her head quickly with a smile, and Sasuke only crossed him arms.

Shisui and I jumped off, backing off a bit while still keeping them in our sights. "What should we do? Call it in?" Shisui asked me, pulling his armbands up a bit. I watched the two fuss over Naruto, contemplating the pros and cons of doing so. "No, we'll wait. We know he's after Sasuke, so all we have to do is keep an eye on him. If that guy knows that we're near, he won't do anything." He nodded, and we continued to follow them through the forest without incident.

….

The last day of the second exam had come up, and we could either watch the preliminaries or were dismissed. I, of course, had to watch. There was no way I was going to miss the Rock Lee vs. Gaara match, so Shisui and I made our way to the stands, masks off but still in the rest of our uniforms. I propped myself against the wall next to Kakashi, giving a bit of a pep talk to his genin team.

"Alright kiddies, this is where your individual skills will shine. Remember to read the opponent's moves, their strengths and hopefully their weaknesses. I know you guys can do this, no doubt. Give 'em hell." I gave them a thumbs up, then was smacked in the back of the head. "Hey, watch your language. They are only kids." Kakashi spoke from behind me. I only rolled my eyes and gave a grin to the kids.

The matches started quickly after our talk, and boy, I was not impressed. I guess when you're just watching them on a television, it's a bit different. But now that I'm an anbu operative, it's really kinda boring. I leaned over to Shisui, covering my mouth with my hand. " _The Otogakure Sensei? That's the man from before._ " He looked across the stadium, giving him a once over before nodding to me. " _He's not very good at disguising himself._ " He told me, scratching his cheek. I laughed quietly. " _You're not wrong._ "

Sasuke's match was the first to happen. Thanks to not having the curse seal, he was a lot less banged up. He passed with incredible ease. I guess having his older brother to (most of the time forcibly) train with him every once in awhile helped a lot. I looked over to the Hokage, seeing said older brother standing behind him. I waved over to him, but he couldn't wave back.

As the next contestants came down, I noticed how weirdly creepy that Orochimaru was staring at the poor kid. He came up to join us on the walkway and I put a hand on his shoulder, congratulating him. We waited through the next couple of matches, Sakura's and Ino's still ending up the same, while Naruto passed his with flying colours, demonstrating some of his mother's massive strength training instead of just releasing gas to defeat Kiba.

Hinata and Neji's match had just ended, and everyone was down in the lower area of the arena. Of course, Naruto tried to fight Neji for what he had done, but was stopped by Lee. The whole hustle of getting a medic team to the poor girl happened before Naruto took her blood from the ground, swearing to take Neji down. All _I_ could think of was the old Naruto abridged where he licks it and was all ' _Mmm, tastes like ketchup!_ ' I struggled to hold in a laugh while Shisui gave me a look, and he was not impressed. I apologized umpteenth amount of times before the next match was started, which happened to be between Gaara and Lee.

Holy _shit._ This was incredibly intense. Just watching gave me chills, and I _already_ knew about his powers. Lee was constantly attacking him, landing no hits whatsoever. Then the most _rawest_ moment happened. He hopped up to the top of the hand sign statue, and I grabbed the railing in anticipation. He grabbed his weights and held them out with a smile before dropping them. It's like two mini bombs went off in the stadium. I cheered out for him along Sakura and Naruto.

The match continued on, Lee finally getting hits on the Sand genin. The speed he was using… It seemed almost on par with Itachi. And _that_ was impressive. Shisui and I both had to use our sharingan to keep up with him, but it still was barely enough, at least for me. Gaara was a pretty well rounded shinobi. The sand came to his rescue more times than I could count. Eventually it drove Lee to open the fourth gate, and I knew the match would end soon. Lee slammed Gaara into the stadium floor, destroying the majority of it.

Gaara laid there, sand surrounding him and Lee lay a few meters away. Gaara surrounded Lee's left arm and leg, crushing it brutally in the sand. He went in for more, but Guy stood between them, stopping Gaara in his tracks. I decided to jump down in front of the sand genin, giving him a wink. "I think that's quite enough, don't you?" He only glared at me before getting up. He watched Lee behind me, the medics doing their best. I put a hand on his shoulder, "Listen, he's most likely done as a shinobi because of the damage you caused, so why don't you just walk back up to your team, hmm?" He shook my hand off and left in a flurry of sand, leaving me to stand by myself before I jumped back beside my partner.

"What was that about?" He asked, a questioning look on his face. "I made sure it didn't get any worse than it already had." I told him as I shrugged my shoulders. I glanced over to Gaara, noticing his eyes on me. I gave him a smirk, only to have him stare daggers at back. Oh, if he only knew who I was. The last match went by quickly, Dosu beating poor Choji with ease. The Hokage stepped into the middle of the stadium with the winners of the prelims lined up in front of him.

"As I've told you before, for the main event, your matches will be held in a stadium where everyone can watch. Each of you will be fighting for your countries, so I would like for you to show off your powers without reserve. Which is why the finals will be held one month from now. Use this break to prepare yourself, to train or what have you." He went on, explaining the finals and what was to be expected of the genin. Everyone was dismissed shortly after his speech, and I hopped down to meet with Sasuke and Naruto.

"So, are you guys excited to be in the finals?" I asked them. Naruto cheered, "Of course! Now I just have to get put up against Sasuke so I can beat him!" I laughed, while Sasuke glared and smacked his rival. "Tch, yeah right, dead last." I grinned at the two of them. They might as well have been brothers with the way they acted.

"Alright then, who wants Ichiraku ramen? Shisui's treat!"

….

"Hayate was…?" Kakashi spoke, surprise in his voice. The Hokage nodded. I watched his expression from behind Kakashi, grim from the start of the conversation. "His body was found by Kikyou castle this morning."

"Was his opponent Orochimaru?" Anko asked from beside me. "We can't make that assumption." Kakashi answered. "He was most likely tailing the spy from Otogakure, Kabuto."

"Well, I would say it's quite clear that Orochimaru is up to something." I spoke. "Then we have to cancel the exams. With Orochimaru…" another shinobi tried.

"No." Hiruzen said firmly. "He has already exposed himself to Anko, and urged us not to cancel."

"But that would mean that he must have allied with one of the other countries! Why else would he not want them cancelled?" A man with scars running along his face stated from beside me.

"Well, the Alliance Agreement is nothing more than verbal words." Kakashi went on. "It has done nothing to stop past wars." Hiruzen sighed. "Either way, we do not possess enough information to act. Let's not worry needlessly."

"We already have anbu gathering information in other countries. We shouldn't focus on this; the enemy will use it against us." Koharu explained. "Plus," Hiruzen went on. "I trust you guys."

….

After the meeting, I waited for the rest of the jonin and other anbu to leave, kneeling in front of the Hokage. "I request to speak with you, if it's not too much at the time."

"Of course, Suchiru. What can I do for you?" he said with a small smile. "Well… I saw something the other night. The night that Hayate died. It gives me reason to believe who Orochimaru has allied himself with." Hiruzen sat up immediately, and I swallowed hard.

"If you know something crucial, please tell us." I nodded. "The spy from Otogakure, Kabuto, was conversing with the Sunagakure Jonin squad leader a few hours after his run in with Kakashi senpai. I thought it was a bit suspicious, but I left it alone. I had no idea that Hayate…" I trailed off, trying to play a bit innocent.

"It's alright. I'm glad you have come to me now." I nodded, and then was quickly dismissed. I pulled my mask down from the top of my head and back over my face, leaving the room. I gave a small smirk, knowing that now it would be a bit more difficult for Orochimaru to pull off his plan.

….

It was the day of the chunin exams. Shisui and I sat in the back of the crowd, looking around for any suspicious looking people. Not to my surprise, Sasuke wasn't present in the genin line-up. I made a mental note to talk to Kakashi later. There is no way that he will be pushing his bad habits onto Sasuke.

Shisui leaned over to me, "Sasuke's not there. Where could he be?" I gave an irritated sigh. "You _do_ know who his sensei is, right?" I crossed my legs and folded my arms, sulking. I knew they were still training, but I was hoping he would actually be on time. I looked across the stadium, watching as the 'Kazekage' walked and shook hands with Hiruzen. He had two guards trailing him, nothing Itachi would have a hard time with. Itachi stood behind the Hokage's chair, anbu mask on and sharingan scanning the crowd. The Hokage then stood at the railing, delivering his speech.

"Thank you, everyone, for coming to the Hidden Leaf chunin selection exam! The matches between the eight participants who made it through the preliminaries will now commence!" The crowd erupted into cheers, but I was not smiling. I glance down to Gaara in the arena, noticing the aura radiating off of him. He wanted blood.

Everyone but Naruto and Neji had left the field. The two of them started their match after the whole 'you're going down' talk. "Shisui, look around for a moment." I told him. He did, then raised an eyebrow at me. "The anbu. Look at the lack of them. There should be more for an event like this." He looked around again, narrowing his eyes. "Why aren't there more?"

"I have a bit of a bad feeling." I told him truthfully, trying to keep him on edge so when the time comes; he'd be ready to act. "You know, every time you say that, something bad happens." I looked back to the stadium, noticing that Neji had just finished his gentle fists technique. I got up, and put a hand on Shisui's shoulder. "I'll be right back." He nodded, and I walked over to Hinata, who had begun a coughing fit. Another anbu, who I had already known was Kabuto, was standing beside Kiba, attempting to help the poor girl.

"Excuse me, but I can help her. You should go back to your post." I told him, sitting in the empty seat on Hinata's right. I placed a hand on her back, forcing a small amount of medical chakra into her system. The man only scoffed before turning around and leaving. I took Hinata, bringing her back over to my own seat, continuously healing her. Kiba sat down next to her, eyeing Kabuto suspiciously.

The match between Naruto and Neji ended, Naruto moving on to the next round. Everyone was quick to start demanding the fight between Sasuke and Gaara, being the most looked-forward to match. I pinched the bridge of my nose, and sighed. "Hopefully they'll postpone it. Everyone really wants to see this one." Shisui said from beside me. I only nodded, checking Hinata to see if she was alright. The colour had come back into her face, and she seemed to be a bit lighter.

Itachi jumped down to the arena, talking to the proctor before jumping away again. I could only laugh at the exhausted look on the examiner's face. "Ladies and gentlemen!" he started. "The contestant for the next match hasn't arrived yet. We will be pushing it back and begin the next one!" He proceeded to call down Shino and Kankuro, only to have the latter forfeit. Temari immediately jumped down, urging Shikamaru to do the same. After everyone's little hissy fit, the match began.

I excused myself once again, walking down towards the contestant booth. I walked up the stairs and up to the box, waving Naruto over. "Hey kid! That was a pretty good match you had there." He smiled brightly at me, jogging over to me. "Wow! Thanks, Suchiru! I'm just a little worried though, about Sasuke, I mean." I sighed, letting my shoulders sag. "He'll be here. It's not like him to miss something like this." I tried assuring him. He nodded, and then turned back to the fight. I got weird looks from the remaining sand siblings before I walked off, taking a spot in the stairwell.

I flipped a kunai around in my hand, hearing the stadium erupt into cheers as Sasuke arrived. I gave a smirk. As if the kid wasn't already full of himself. Shikamaru and Naruto started up the stairs, but I held a hand to them. I placed a finger on my lips and winked, walking forward towards the hallway where Gaara stood in front of two Kusagakure shinobi. Their attempt to tell Gaara to lose the match did not go well, the killer intent rolling off the boy in waves. I threw the kunai between the two Kusa shinobi, liquefying it and creating small sections that stopped Gaara's sand from reaching them.

"Now now, Gaara. Don't you want to save your strength for your match?" I asked him, a bit of venom in my too-sweet voice. He let out some sort of growl before marching forward, standing in front of me with the same looks he gave the two men who were now running for their lives. "Who. Are. You." He asked, enunciating each word. "Wouldn't you like to know?" I said before he pushed past me, down the stairs past the two other genin and into the arena. I leaned over the railing, giving them a peace sign before shunshining away, back to my own seat by Shisui. I sat down and crossed my legs, ignoring the strange look I was getting.

The fight started shortly after. I saw Kakashi and Guy standing a few sections over, and flashed the former my sharingan. He nodded to me, knowing that I knew about the strange lack of anbu in the area. I turned my focus back to the fight, watching as Sasuke egged Gaara on. I was nervous. Not just because of what was coming, but because anything could change. The fight may not go in Sasuke's favour, and he could very well die. Of course, I would try and jump in if anything like that were to happen.

I felt a hand push its way into mine, giving it a squeeze. I looked over to Shisui, smiling up at him. Unfortunately, it did little to ease my nerves. I intently watched the match as it went on, noting just how well that Sasuke imitated Lee's style. "As good as he is, he doesn't have the stamina to keep up that type of taijutsu." Shisui commented from beside me. I nodded, getting tense as Gaara used his ultimate defence. Sasuke figured out it was impenetrable, and jumped up the wall to get ready for his chidori.

He ran down the wall with incredible speed, across the arena and right up to Gaara's defence, penetrating it and cutting him. It was quiet for a few moments.

Then it came.

Gaara's agonizing scream, it was enough to chill me to the bones. Sasuke ripped his hand out, pulling along something similar to Shukaku's arm. The sand fell off of Gaara, showing his bleeding shoulder. Then feathers started to fall from the sky, and everyone around us began to fall asleep. I quickly released the genjutsu, Shisui following suit. Smoke filled the Kage's stand, signalling the beginning of the invasion.

"Shisui! Go to the Hokage, help Itachi! I'll go get Sasuke!" I ordered him. We separated, and I jumped down into the arena. I took out my tanto and stood in front of Sasuke, acting as his shield from the siblings.

"Looks like things didn't go according to plan, hmm?" I asked them, receiving glares in return. Baki told them to retreat, leaving just him and a few lackeys. "What do we do?" Sasuke asked from behind me. "Well, I think you know the right thing to do. You're a chunin level shinobi, so act like it. Help defend the village and go after them." I told him, knowing it's what he needed to do. "Naruto will catch up eventually." He nodded hesitantly before jumping after the three. The proctor nodded to me, allowing me to join the rest of anbu up on the main roof of the complex. I jumped up, landing beside Itachi.

"Itachi! What's going on?" I asked quickly, looking at the purple shield that kept us from the Hokage. "It's Orochimaru. He plans to kill Third." I thought for a moment before coming up with something. I put one hand on each of the boys' backs, filling their chakra supply.

"You need to use Susano'o." I assumed that Itachi was grim underneath his mask, because Shisui was definitely showing it off. "It doesn't have to be both of you. Just enough to get us through. That way we can corner off Orochimaru from Hokage-sama." I explained quickly. Itachi grabbed my hand and activated Susano'o, walking through the barrier without a problem. As soon as we were in, I turned to Shisui. "You give them a hand. And… I think there is a giant snake with your name on it." I said, pointing to the large reptile outside of the village walls. He gave me a smile and a wink before jumping off. I rolled my eyes, but then returned my attention to the two in the shield.

"I can't say I'm surprised you found a way in, Itachi." Orochimaru hissed at him. He said nothing back. We jumped to the Hokage's side, ready for action. "So, Hokage-sama, does this mean I'm officially on your guard now?" I asked him with a smirk. "We'll talk details after the fight, Suchiru." He said, returning the smile.

"Neither of you will be surviving." Orochimaru said, using Edo Tensei to resurrect the First and Second Lords. I got ready, one hand on my tanto and the other focusing chakra. "Hokage-sama, don't worry about these guys, Itachi and I will handle them." I told him, nodding to Itachi.

"It's been a long time, eh Monkey?" Tobirama spoke. "Hmm, you've grown quite old, Sarutobi." Hashirama continued. "I did not think I would meet you two brothers in a situation such as this. Please prepare for your defeat." Third told the two of them, as Itachi and I got into fighting stances.

"Well then," Hashirama spoke. "Let's see what you're teaching the younger generations!" He could tell he had no control over his body, and it saddened me. One of the greatest shinobi of all time reduced to nothing but a puppet because of that snake. I jumped towards Second, his kunai and my tanto clashing with sparks.

"It's an honour to meet you, Lord Second." I told him as we fought. He smirked, "Yes, well… I guess it's a pleasure to meet you as well." I ducked from a swipe of his kunai, uppercutting him and kicking him across the rooftop. He used the water trumpet technique, creating a large wave. I quickly built a wall, hiding behind it until the wave stopped. I jumped out and used my lighting, setting the water into an electric wave pool.

He stood there, completely unfazed by it. I inwardly groaned. Looks like my lightning style won't work on him very well. I dove back in, attacking him with my tanto. He pulled out his own sword, parrying every slice. He then grabbed my shoulder and jumped over me, using the water dragon bullet, launching the massive beast at me. I used my wind cutter, slicing it in half. I looked through the water droplets, but did not see him.

Feet connected with my back, sending me across the rooftop. I grunted as I skid, stabbing my tanto into the roof to stop myself. I quickly got up, looking at him. How was he able to get to me that fast? Without me noticing, too? I tried to think of a technique that could do that, but couldn't come up with anything. I activated my sharingan and used the earth spear technique. My lower arms became noticeably darker as I ran back in, stabbing through his chest. I ripped my hand upward, severing his left arm from his body before quickly retreating again.

Just as I thought, the discarded arm flaked away before returning back to its rightful place. So I was going to have to find a way to seal him away if I wanted to be done with him. I cursed under my breath. I had no long range sealing techniques either, so it's going to be a real risk to do this. What a pain in the ass. I pulled out a small scroll and rolled it across the ground. I quickly wrote down a few kanji before biting my thumb and swiping it across the page. All I had to do was hit him with the same hand and hope it works.

I was just about to go for an attack when a sword swiped my side. I gasped and jumped away, looking for my opponent. There he was, standing where I had been just seconds ago. I was so confused. The only one I know who can move that fast is the Fourth Hokage.

That's it.

"Flying Thunder God, right?" I asked him with a grimace. It had to be. It was the only technique that even a seasoned sharingan can't track. He nodded, and I knew he had to have marked me somewhere. I reviewed the fight thus far, and turned my head to see my shoulder. There it was, the seal. I took off my haori, carelessly tossing it to the side. I used the earth spear technique again, my lower arms becoming dark once more.

I flickered in towards him, my tanto at the ready, and he parried me away. I decided against using my tanto, instead going in with punches. Thanks to my jutsu, he couldn't cut through my arm. But he was keeping my right hand away from him at all costs. He came at me with his sword again but I grabbed it, liquefying it with my left and then slamming my right hand to his chest. I pulled away and watched as his chest started to glow with the kanji for 'spirit seal'.

His body started to disappear, becoming a bright blue colour. The scroll that sat behind me did the same. I walked back over to it, finishing the last few lines to seal him in. "I'm sorry, Lord Second, but don't get too comfortable in the next plane, I'm sure you'll be summoned again, much to your displeasure." I told him, clapping my hands together and using chakra to initiate the final step.

"Well then, I'll be sure not to. I'll definitely keep Hashirama on his toes, too." I gave a weak smile before he finally disappeared, then looked over to see how the other two were doing. Itachi seemed to be finishing Hashirama up, using the sword of Totsuka. I lifted and rolled up the scroll, putting it my pack then grabbed Second's discarded sword and moulded it back together, positioning it on my back comfortably. I walked over to Itachi, seeing him barely have a scratch on him. The two of us then walked onto the other side of the roof, only to see that Hiruzen was using the Reaper Death Seal on Orochimaru. I looked at him sadly, knowing he was going to die after he disabled Orochimaru's arms.

The shield went down as soon as the jutsu was finished. Hiruzen went down, his summon disappearing. Orochimaru hissed at him before his goons grabbed him and took off. I didn't bothering giving chase, there was no point. I jumped down to the Hokage, giving him a bit of support.

"You need to… get Tsunade…" I nodded, understanding what he meant. "And… tell Konohamaru… I'm sorry." I nodded again, the tears starting up. "Thank you, Hokage-sama. For everything you've done for me, and the village. For everyone." I said to him, wiping the tears from my face. "I'm sorry we couldn't get to you in time. I never meant for this to happen."

"Haha... my child, do not fret. This old geezer... was past his prime." I gave a small laugh. The light faded from his eyes, and I choked back a sob. I felt a hand on my back and looked around. It was Itachi, his mask on top of his head, a solemn expression on his face. A few medics arrived shortly, a stretcher ready. They took his body and lifted a white sheet over it, making it hard for anybody else to see who it was. I stood back up and composed myself, wiping the tears away quickly before turning back to Itachi.

"We have two Uchiha we need to catch up to."

….

We jumped to the top of the wall, meeting up with Shisui. "What's going on? Where's Sasuke?" Itachi quickly asked him. "He's down there, with Naruto." He told us, pointing to where Gamabunta and Shukaku were standing off against each other. "How many others are down there?" I asked.

"Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, and the sand siblings. In that immediate area, anyway. There are others working rescue though, looking for survivors and stragglers from the sound." I smirked, then jumped down into the forest and up beside Naruto, who was currently having a discussion with Gamabunta.

"Heya kiddo!" I said with a small wave. "Suchiru! What are you doing here?" He asked back. I shrugged my shoulders, "Well, I'm done fighting the Second Hokage, so I figured I'd come out here to help. Looks like you need it." I said, pointing to the one tail. He nodded quickly, "Yeah, we really do." I gave him a bright smile before jumping back down, performing some seals.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" I slammed my hand against the ground before I was surrounded in smoke, then felt myself being lifted up quickly. I grabbed hold of some fur, then the smoke cleared out.

"Shirokuma-sama, thank you for showing up this time." I said to the large polar bear. He stood next to Gamabunta, pretty close to doubling his height standing on his hind legs. "Yes, well there was a bit of a stir in the mountains. Now I can see why." He grabbed his naginata from his back, pointing it at the large badger like creature.

"Unfortunately, we won't be fighting. We'll be protecting." I told him. He raised an eyebrow, looking at me on his shoulder. "You mean you didn't call upon me to finish this?" I scratched the back of my head, smiling nervously. "Well, no, I didn't. The kid's down there, and so are a few of his friends. We have to keep the big guy away from them. So I guess it's possible to get a few hits in." He gave a slight growl before taking a few steps back behind the chief.

They got back into the fight quickly, destroying much of the land around us. Shukaku was using wind style, making it a bit difficult to dodge the fast attacks. Naruto transformed into Kurama, diving towards the large badger, then back to himself to deliver a punch to Gaara. Gamabunta tried holding the one tail in place, but was being pushed back towards us. Shirokuma got behind him, helping Gamabunta hold his ground.

I noticed a large orange glow surround Naruto. It seems like he had to call upon the power of the nine tails in order to stop Gaara. He gave him a hard headbutt, causing Shukaku to crack then completely fall apart, sand filling around the summons feet. Gamabunta dismissed himself, and Shirokuma followed soon after. I jumped back to the ground then turned tail, heading to where Sasuke and Sakura were held up.

"Sasuke!" I shouted upon seeing the boy. He set Sakura down on a branch of a large tree and I landed next to them. "Look after her." He told me. I nodded to him before he took off, and then turned my attention to the young girl. I picked her up, rushing her back to the village with Pakkun on my heels.

….

 _Two days after the battle_

… _._

I stood in between Itachi and Shisui, the second row from the front of the Hokage's funeral. Sasuke stood on the other side of his brother, Sakura beside him. I had tears streaming down my face. The man who welcomed me into this village with open arms, helped me get situated and anything I needed, he was there for me. Shisui held my hand in his own as I attempted to clean my face. I glanced up at him, softly saying a thank you. I turned my head to Itachi, gently placing a hand on his arm, trying to comfort him. I knew that he and Hiruzen were close.

The funeral didn't last too long. Words were preached for the man, and flowers given. Itachi and Sasuke left to the compound, while Shisui and I took a walk around the village before going home to change into our regular clothing. I had taken to carrying the Seconds sword with me, tying some white cloth around my shoulders to holster it on my back.

The sky had cleared up considerably since the end of the funeral, the sun out and warming up from the cold morning. "Want to get some tea?" I asked Shisui. He nodded with a small smile and we walked down the road a bit further from the compound to a small tea shop. We both got a cup of green tea and a plate of dango. Two figures walked into the shop shortly after, wearing iconic cloaks.

Black. Red clouds.

They sat at the nearest table to the front, probably for an easy escape. One of them I recognized easily, the giant sword on his back giving him away instantaneously. The other had his back to me, but had a tall build, and his hat was blocking his head. I glanced over to Shisui, nodding my head towards the two. We got up, and I grabbed my stick of dango before walking out of the shop. Kakashi was standing outside and I waved to him.

"How's it hangin', Kakashi-senpai?" He shrugged his shoulders. "Just waiting for Sasuke. What are you two up to? On a date?" A blush creeped up on my face. "Yes, actually. We are." Shisui said while slinging his arm around my shoulders. Kakashi nodded, then glanced over to the two at the table. I noticed, and gave him a smile. "Well it's awfully weird for you to be here first."

"Well… For some occasions…" He trailed off as Sasuke approached us. I gave him a peace sign before Shisui and I took off, trailing the two Akatsuki members. They should be thankful that their organization isn't a big threat at the moment, or they wouldn't be able to move as freely as they are. We followed them out to a river in the outskirts of the village, only for them to stop. We jumped down in front of them, having a little standoff.

"You would do well to stand aside." The one who I still hadn't figured out said. "Now now. What happened to your usually energetic demeanour?" His partner asked him. "These two are not to be trifled with. They are stronger than the others." Kisame let out a low laugh.

"Well, that's exactly what I want, Tobi."

…

Hohoho. There's another one. I forgot how awkward it was to write the intimate scenes. The whole time I'm trying not to laugh at my own writing and I'm just like 'omg how do I even do this?' Hopefully it's good enough, 'cause I was trying to look up like 'how to write a kiss scene' and listening to love songs to try and help but it just wasn't working with me.

Anywho, enjoy!


	13. Chapter 13

_Wait… Tobi?_

My body tensed, hearing that name. I looked to the shorter man, and watched as he removed his hat and an orange mask sat upon his face underneath.

"It looks as though the woman already knows who we are…" Kisame chuckled as he reached for Samehada. I gave him a sad look. "But you don't remember me?" I asked Kisame while making hand signs for my earth spear technique. He quirked an eyebrow at me.

I rolled my eyes, "Please. Chunin exams, six years ago? The tiny girl who almost hyperventilated from seeing you?" He seemed to be thinking, and then his eyes went wide. "OH. Yes, I do recall that." I gave him a flat look. "Do you remember what I told you?" He glanced at his partner, then back to me.

"Something ended up happening, unfortunately." I gave a glare before jumping at him, coming down with my fists. He quickly moved out of the way, a small crater where he used to stand. I stood back up, Tobi standing still beside me. I gave the man a smirk before jumping off towards his partner again, delivering a kick only to be blocked by Samehada.

"That jutsu is quite familiar." Kisame commented as he blocked my punches. I smiled, "Yes, I did take influence on a certain male figure in my life." He gave a short laugh before sending me flying and into the river. I caught myself, forcing chakra into my hands and feet to keep me afloat.

"Oh, you're rude, putting me in your territory." I spoke as he formed his own signs. A giant shark came up from below me, swallowing me whole. I substituted myself with a log, appearing behind the man from a whirlwind of iron sand and kicked him with both my feet. "Well, if I want this to be finished quickly, then it would be easier to do so." He told me with a grin, showing off his teeth.

I quickly glanced over to my partner, seeing him have a standoff with Tobi, sharingan actively spinning. Since Shisui now knew who he was, he surely wasn't going easy on him. I was about to grab my tanto when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked back to see Kakashi, a smile on his face. I stood up straight and raised my brow at him. "What's up?" I asked.

Before he could say anything, Tobi suddenyl joined Kisame. "We did not come here to start a war. Let's go." "Hey!" I barked out before they jumped away, leaving nothing but ripples in the water. I turned to Shisui, only to see him trying to support himself by the railing. I moved quickly to meet him, lifting his arm around my shoulders to help keep him up.

"Hey bud, you ok?" I asked him. Shisui lifted his head, the usual grin sitting on his face. "Never been better." I gave a sigh of relief, and waved to Kakashi. "I'm taking him home to rest, so if you need anything, that's where we'll be." The man nodded as Shisui whined. I jumped off, towing an unhappy Shisui with me.

"So, what's he like?" He only sighed. "That bad, huh?" He shook his head no. "It's not that he was stronger with genjutsu, but the way he was using it was like he moved me to another plane. It felt weird and unfortunately caught me off guard." I nodded, knowing what he was talking about. If Obito had already gotten to the strength of where he was near the fourth war, then we would be in trouble. I swiftly landed in front of our apartment, then shuffled to get the key out of my pocket. I opened the door and escorted Shisui to his room where I proceeded to throw him on the bed.

"I'll be right back. Get comfortable." I told him sternly while waving my finger at him. He fell backwards into his multitude of pillows as I turned away from him and to the kitchen. I started making up a pot of tea, trying to get it as close to chamomile tea as possible. After it finished brewing, I took a small tray and two cups and brought it down to his room. I heard voices before I entered, so I slowly opened the door and peeked in. Kakashi sat on his windowsill, book in one hand and giving me a peace sign with the other.

"Kakashi-senpai. I'll get another cup." He shook his head, "Don't worry about it, I won't be here long." I nodded and proceeded to pour one for Shisui, who took it gratefully. I then made myself a cup and sat cross legged at the bottom of Shisui's bed. "So what's going on?" I asked the man in the window.

"Well," He said, taking a deep breath. "For now, we only know who one of those two are." I nodded, "Hoshigaki Kisame." He nodded, "Yes. The other, however, is a mystery. The only thing we know is that he is adept at using genjutsu." Shisui coughed, and looked at me. We held a silent conversation between ourselves before I finally broke down. I hoped he could take this gently.

"I know who it is. We both do. That's why we went after them." I told Kakashi while fiddling with my cup. He sat up straight, looking at me instead of his book now. "Who is it, then?" I held up a finger, "Before I tell you, I need you to promise to keep this between the three of us plus Itachi." He looked surprised for a moment before nodding.

"I promise."

….

I told him everything I knew about Obito at this point, choosing to leave out where I was from, like I had done with the other two.

"..." Kakashi was speechless. His childhood friend and rival would be the one causing all the chaos in the future. He couldn't even believe that Obito was alive, let alone in some terrorist organization, and the apprentice of one Madara Uchiha. Shisui looked up from his cup, "For now, we would like to keep it family business, and away from the village elders. We don't need them getting worried about it, especially since he hasn't done anything except this little episode. And away from Danzo."

"But, since he is your 'friend', we wanted to let you know." I added. "But at the same time, you can't go out looking for him either. That will only stir the pot more, and we don't need that right now. Especially since we don't have a Hokage at the moment. It leaves us too vulnerable to do anything." I quickly said, making sure he didn't get any ideas, although I'm sure he already had.

"Please, Kakashi. We can't afford a war right now." I tried pleading with him. He closed his eyes, letting his shoulders sag and sighed.

"I suppose I can curb my curiosity. For now." A gave a small smile. "Thank you." I couldn't have anybody pushing on the Akatsuki. Not yet. Although, if we started now then we could put them down before they even had a chance to recruit most of their members.

It gave me an idea.

….

I walked the streets outside of Konoha, looking around at the buildings. A sign caught my attention and I made my way over. There was a large hole in the side of the building; remnants of a fight. I jumped up and through it, scanning the rooms with my sharingan. Spotting a large amount in one, I quickly knocked on the door and waited for a response. I heard muffled talking from the other side.

"-getting this one. Stay put." The door opened a crack, revealing the sharp eye of Jiraiya. He then opened the door fully after realizing that I wasn't a threat, and gave me a sly smirk. "What can I do for the lady?" I rolled my eyes at him before pushing past him and into his room.

"This isn't a leisure call. It's business."

"Of course it is." I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall. "It's about the Akatsuki." I explained. "I assume you had a run in with them?" I asked as Jiraiya's face grew grim.

"Just a few hours ago. How'd you know?" I pointed at Naruto, who was patiently sitting on the bed and he nodded. "They were in the center of town. Shisui and I dealt with them there, but I had a feeling they were after him." He nodded.

"So I just want you to keep tabs on them as best you can. Keep me in the loop." He sighed. "You know information like that is classified, don't you?" I nodded.

"I do. That's why I came to you directly. This isn't anbu business. It's my own." I told him. This was the only way I would be able to know -Other than going out on my own- when others joined the organization and when they would start moving. He gave it a bit of thought.

"Alright. I'll keep in touch. But I want you to do something in return."

"Oh?"

He gave me a smirk. "Naruto needs a worthy rival."

….

"Absolutely not."

I ran my hands down my face. "What happened to the kid who used to admire me?"

Sasuke and I sat at the kitchen table in the Uchiha main house. "Listen, I'm anbu. You don't get much better than that. Unless the next Hokage will train you, and I highly doubt that." He glared at me, crossing his arms.

"Why should I train with you? We have almost nothing in common in terms of fighting style. And I might as well be better than you with the sharingan."

"Hey! I'm decent with it! Just 'cause I don't know genjutsu doesn't mean I'm bad." I retorted, slamming my hand on the table and pointing at him with the other. A set of footsteps came around the corner. Itachi stood in the doorway, groceries bags in one hand and a stick of dango in the other.

"What's going here?" He asked with a smile. The boy across from me scoffed and turned his head. "She wants to train me. I said no." Itachi set the bags on the counter and started putting everything away.

"Now Sasuke, why don't you want her to train you?" he asked his brother, voice completely flat. He was so much like his mother it wasn't even funny. "Because she doesn't even know how to properly use the sharingan and that's where I need the most training!" I rolled my eyes at him.

"Well, what if it was both her _and_ Shisui?" he offered. I raised an eyebrow at him while Sasuke made gagging noises. I whipped an apple at his head, smirking. "Why would I want to train with the both of them? All they're going to do is make out in front of me." My face went red at the remark.

"Excuse you! I have more class than that, idiot." Itachi sighed as he finished the last of the groceries, then took a seat at the table. "Sasuke, Shisui is quite adept with the sharingan. He would be the best choice for you."

"But what about you?! You don't have anything to do now that there isn't a Hokage!" Itachi looked taken back by the comment, but quickly recovered. "Sasuke, even if that is true, they will get another one quickly as they can. And when they do, I'll have to go back." He tried with the boy. Sasuke only sulked, stalking off to his room. "You never have time for me anymore!" he yelled before slamming the screen to his room shut. I looked over to Itachi, and for the first time in a while he truly looked exhausted.

"I think you need to take a bit of time for yourself." I told him, a hand on his arm. He closed his eyes, breathing deeply. He took a moment to gather his thoughts before speaking.

"It's been hard," he admitted. "dealing with the elders. Dealing with the family deaths and Sasuke. All while looking after the Hokage. I feel so old and worn out." I gave him a sad look, held his hand and gave it a squeeze.

"I know it's not something you do, but if you ever needed anything you can come to me. You're not going through this alone and I don't want you to ever think that." I spoke quietly, afraid he'd break if I was any louder. "Listen, I'll convince Sasuke to come train with Shisui and I. I want you to take some time to yourself, relax, and do whatever you want." He gave a grateful smile. I gave one in return, then walked around the table to give him a hug. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he around my waist. He buried his head into my shoulder, squeezing me tightly.

"Thank you, Suchiru."

….

"So you two are my emergency response team?"

Shisui and I stood in the Hokage's office, facing Tsunade for the first time. I have to say, she really is one beautiful lady. And intimidating. She looked us over carefully, scrutinizing any flaw she could find. We weren't in our anbu uniforms either, only casual clothes.

"Yes ma'am." Shisui responded to her, only to get silenced. "First of all, I am terminating that position. You'll be used as whatever I see fit." I panicked a bit at first; she was technically firing us only to give us another job. "Second of all; don't call me ma'am. Hokage-sama or Tsunade-sama will be fine." Shisui was silent beside me.

"Hang on… So we just have the same job but with a different title." He tried to clarify, confusion written all over his face. She nodded with a big grin on her face. Shisui and I looked at each other, and I shrugged my shoulders. "Alright, we accept."

"Good! Now that is settled, Suchiru I have a few things I need to discuss with you." She told me shuffling some papers around on her desk. Shisui quickly bowed and left the room, leaving me alone with our new Hokage. "What can I do for you, Tsunade-sama?"

"Your sharingan aren't natural, are they?" I was taken back. "Uh.. No. They aren't. Why?" I was now extremely wary of why she asked me to stay behind. "Because I could tell. I know a real sharingan when I see it. So what clan are you from, then?" She definitely wasn't curious. She was confirming.

I sighed, crossing my arms. "You know who I am." She smirked. "Yes, but I want to hear it from you." I closed my eyes, breathing deeply. "I'm the Third Kazekage's daughter." I opened my eyes, staring her down. Tsunade leaned back in her chair, now content. I didn't get why she wanted to hear it, but at this point I just wanted to leave.

"May I be dismissed?" I asked impatiently, tapping my foot. "No. There is one more thing I want to know." She quickly dismissed Shizune, then stood up and turned back to face me.

"Why do you possess those eyes?"

"Why is it important to you?"

"Because I need to know. For future reference." I narrowed my eyes at her, deciding to tell her the truth. But not nicely. "The reason I possess these eyes is because one of your elders tried attack and kill Shisui and I while we were out training. I take it you know of the Kotoamatsukami?" I asked before continuing. Tsunade nodded. "Danzo wants it. And the only person who has it is Shisui. I wouldn't let it happen so I took the fall for him and gave up my original eye. I know Danzo still wants the power of the sharingan and I have no doubt that he already has multiple pairs in his possession." I told her aggressively. I took a breath, claiming myself before I got out of control.

"Someone needs to keep an eye on him. He already tried and failed at not only recruiting me but also stealing Shisui's eyes. He won't stop until either Shisui or the both of us dead." Persuading her wouldn't be hard, but it's the other two elders that need convincing. "I have the sharingan because it was given to me by the clan head. By Fugaku. He believed that I was a part of the clan as much as his own sons. I take pride in that and I consider myself to be an Uchiha. Whether you accept that is up to you." I told her truthfully, standing my ground. She crossed her arms defiantly as a smile grew across her face.

"Good. That's what I wanted to hear. Now, I have one more thing I wish to discuss with you. It involves the Akatsuki." I nodded, urging her to continue. "I read over the reports of the incident a few days ago. Both yours and Jiraiya's. I want you to assist him in keeping watch on them. If you hear anything about them I want you investigating and following up. Got it?" I nodded again. He must have said something to her.

"Then I wish to have any documents that may have anything to do with them." I asked her. She reached below her desk and rummaged through the drawer before pulling out a small stack of paper. "This is all we have on them. Unfortunately it's not much." Grabbing the papers from her hands I quickly scanned them over. She was right. There was barely anything here.

"Alright. I'm going to take these home and look over them, if you don't mind." She dismissed me with a nod, and I swiftly left the office and quickly made my way home. I opened the door to the apartment, setting the papers down on the kitchen table and started to look them over more carefully.

So far, they only had a few confirmed members; Kisame, Kakuzu and Sasori. One unknown; presumably Obito. They all had wanted pictures except for Sasori, which was listed as unknown. No known bases, but a few areas of interest. No known goals. It was laughable how much information they didn't have. It was a wonder how they were able to counter them at any point in time. I grabbed a notebook from my room, writing anything I could remember about them -in English, so no one else would be able to read it- for the future. I wrote past and future members, what skills they had, what would happen to them; anything at all.

Then I wrote a timeline down, getting the order of events ready. Starting at the beginning of Konoha, then branching off, writing the original, then what happened in my lifetime. So far, nothing big save for Shisui living and Itachi not being the one who killed the clan, but I'm waiting for the butterfly effects to kick in. We'll see in time.

The front door opened, revealing Shisui with a few takeout boxes in hand.

"Brought Ichiraku's. What did the Hokage want with you?" He asked as I nonchalantly closed my book and moved it to the bottom of my paper pile. "She wanted to know about my eyes and who I actually was." He raised an eyebrow. "And what did you tell her?"

"The truth. I didn't have a good reason to hide it other than plainly not wanting to tell her. It's fine though, I feel like I can trust her." I tried explaining. "She also wants me to help keep an eye on the Akatsuki. Hence, all these papers." Shisui glanced over to the pile of papers curiously.

"There's really not a lot here. They only have a few confirmed members and nothing about their goals or bases. I've got almost nothing to work with and a lot to do." He nodded along as I spoke to him, then brought the bowls over.

"Well, I just finished talking to Itachi." I hummed as I moved the papers out of the way. "He said you wanted to train Sasuke?"

"Yeah, I thought it would be fun. I could help with his lightning style. Maybe even help him learn more than just fire and lightning." I paused, eating a bit of ramen. "I mean, if I have to start researching these guys," I said, waving a piece of paper around, "Then I can take him with me. Train him on the road kinda thing."

"How long do you plan on leaving for?" Shisui asked me, a bit of pain in his eyes.

"Not too long. I don't want to be away forever. But it also may take a while to get any traction on these guys. Probably two, maybe three years? It really depends." He dropped his chopsticks.

"Three years?! That it not 'not long'."

"Then come with me."

"Eh?! But what about our responsibilities here? You know, helping out the Hokage?" I leaned back a bit. "Well, I'm sure she can find two other people to help her. It's not that big of a deal." I said, waving my hand. I mean it's true though, she will eventually have Itachi as her guard so he can assist her with anything she needs.

"So all I need to do is convince Sasuke to come with me. Shouldn't be hard if I tell him we are hunting some baddies down." Shisui looked at me, disbelieving.

"C'mon. It'll be fun. Not only do we get to train the squirt, but we can go around visiting other countries! I've always wanted to go see the Hidden Mist." I attempted to persuade him. He sighed, "Fine. We'll do it." I clapped my hands excitedly.

"Yay!"

...

"Are you serious?!" I shouted at the young man in front of me.

"Why do you women need to be so loud all the time? And yes. He left." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I grabbed his shoulders, shaking him violently. "When, Shikamaru?! When did he leave?!"

"Early this morning. Between the shift changes. Sakura said she saw him before he left, but he never said where he was going." I paced back and forth in the hallway outside of the Hokage's office. What happened? Did the sound four actually lead Sasuke to believe that he could gain power from Orochimaru? Or did he leave for another reason? Either way, I wasn't going to let him leave. Not this easily.

"When are you leaving to go after him?" Shikamaru raised his brow. "How do you- you know what? I don't care. In about thirty minutes. I just have to gather up a team and I know who I'm taking. Why? You coming?" I shook my head quickly. "No. At least not right away. I will tail after you guys. Hurry, go get your team I'll meet up with you guys later." I started my way away from him before turning back to him.

"Don't tell Itachi!"

….

"Shisui!" I shouted as I barged through the door. A clatter was heard from down the hall, and his head poked out from behind the wall. "Yes…?"

"Sasuke's gone! He left the village! I'm going after him! Don't tell Itachi!" I yelled in intervals while gathering some supplies. "Hold on a minute, what?!" I paused halfway through shoving my things into my bag, and looked over to him.

"Sasuke left the village early this morning. Shikamaru's getting a squad together, and I'm going to tail them. Sakura was the last one to see him but he never said where he was going. We can't let Itachi know or he'll go nuts." I paused. "Well, you know. Whatever he does when he gets worried. Either way, I gotta leave. You need to keep Itachi in the village. Do some bonding shit or something. I don't know!" He grabbed my shoulders, holding me still for a moment.

"Who are they sending after him?"

"Shikamaru is gathering a squad of genin. That's why I'm going too." Shisui stayed silent for a bit, thinking the information over. "Alright. Go get him back. I'll keep Itachi busy." I smiled brightly at him, then gave him a quick kiss and ran out the door. I rushed to the front gates, seeing that the team of genin had already left. Sakura was standing with Lee, escorting him back to wherever he needed to be.

"Suchiru!" She waved me down, and I quickly stopped by. "Hey, Sakura." She looked like she had just been freshly crying, so I brought the poor girl into a tight hug. "I'm gonna get him back. Don't you worry your pretty little head off." She nodded into my shoulder, the tears starting up again. I let her go, putting a hand on her head. "You take good care of Lee, alright?" She nodded once again, and I took off, following the genin team.

….

When I caught up to them, they were already in trouble. I stayed hidden in the bushes, watching as they conversed with Jirobo. He was going on about Shikamaru being unfit to be a leader, and not letting any of them out. I ran my hand down my face, already exasperated from hearing the conflict. I activated my earth spear technique and focused chakra into my right hand. Quietly walking out and making sure Jirobo couldn't see me, I looked for the spot on the earth dome for the least amount of chakra. I moved my arm back, then slammed forward into the dome, creating a large hole.

"Get out before it closes back up." I ordered them. They quickly filed out, giving me weird looks as they did. "What are you doing here, Suchiru?" Kiba asked. "Well, I came as backup. Mostly." He nodded hesitantly before another voice interrupted us.

"Who the hell are you?" I heard as a shadow covered us. I looked over from the boys, seeing Jirobo hold a slab of earth over his head. He threw it towards us, and Choji quickly ballooned up, destroying the boulder and attack our opponent. Jirobo stopped him, kneeing him and throwing Choji away, making him collide with Shikamaru. The other boys got ready into fighting stances. I held my hand up, stopping them in their tracks.

"Choji, I'm guessing you have a score to settle here?" I asked him. Choji stood up and nodded, before reaching into his pack and grabbing a large sack of soldier pills. He handed them off to Shikamaru, who took them hesitantly. "Choji… Are you sure about this?" He quickly nodded.

"I have a trick up my sleeve." Shikamaru took the pills from him and opened them, sharing with the other boys. "You better catch up to us later." Shikamaru told his friend. Choji gave a thumbs up, then we took off to pursue the other sound four members.

As we traversed through the forest, I heard Akamaru start to whine. "Yeah, I know bud." Kiba said to his companion. "What did he say?" Naruto asked.

"Akamaru can estimate an enemy's strength by smell. He's worried that a simple pill won't be enough to beat that guy." Shikamaru stepped up, coming up next to Kiba.

"Those are the Akimichi clan secret pills. They give you enormous strength when used. But they do have nasty side effects." He explained.

"Well, if we analyze the situation," Neji started, "We don't have an accurate estimate of his strength anyway. The possibility of Choji beating that guy might be slim to none, but I guess it's up to him."

"Yeah well, Choji's a good guy, but has little confidence in himself. He believes that he's the weakest one of us. But I believe that he actually may be one of the strongest." Shikamaru told the group. I smiled, it was nice to know that Choji had someone like Shikamaru to back him up. He's a true friend.

We stopped as Shikamaru marked a tree down. "He made a promise. He will defeat the enemy, and he will catch up with us."

"Of course he will."

"Well, I'm sure if he puts in the effort, he definitely can."

"Yeah!"

"So, before he does we better get Sasuke back." Shikamaru said before we were back on the road again. I never realized how cheesy he could actually be. As inspiring as it was, I almost got second-hand embarrassment from it.

We went on for about thirty minutes before Kiba spoke up again. "We're getting close!" He called out. "How odd… There hasn't been a single trap so far." Neji commented from the back.

"Well, if they believed that their comrade was the only one who was going to follow them, then they won't set traps up." I explained. "They are underestimating you, to simply put it."

"They're gonna pay for it, too!" Naruto shouted out. "It's an accurate analysis, but it also gives us a chance to get them while they're not expecting it." Neji said, cringing from Naruto's loud voice. I smiled. "Of course. So that's why I have an idea."

….

I approached the sound four disguised as Jirobo, joining in with the back of the group. I couldn't believe how easy this was. I don't know how Orochimaru trains these people, but it's awful.

"Jirobo! What took you so long?" Sakon asked. "Well it doesn't take a couple minutes to drain five people's chakra." I said calmly, trying to remember how this idiot talked.

"You fatty! Why are you so fuckin' slow?!" Tayuya screeched at me. It took all I had to not deck her right here and now. "Hurry up and carry this fuckin' coffin. It's your job, you fuckhead!" _Oh my god, find my inner happy place._

"Whatever." I told her, reaching for the coffin. "Hey, Jirobo." I looked over to Kidomaru, only to have him hand the coffin over to Tayuya. "You ain't getting it, cause you're definitely not him." I groaned before taking a kunai out, whipping it at the man. I tried punching him, only to be blocked by one set of arms.

"Jirobo always warns Tayuya about her language." I switched back to myself, rolling my eyes. "Trust me; I was pretty close to punching her lights out." I told him, only to receive a shocked look.

"Who the hell are you?!" he said before launching a web from his mouth, trapping me against a tree. "OOH my god this is disgusting." I said to myself as I attempted to pick the webbing off of me. Kunai didn't work against it, it was too strong. I watched as the others tried to attack Kidomaru, then saw Neji cut through the strings with his gentle fists jutsu. I grabbed my kunai again, pushing chakra into it and cut the webbing off of me. I was definitely not staying for this battle.

Kidomaru was preoccupied by attacking Naruto's clones, which gave me enough time to scan the area with my sharingan. None of his friends were here, so that made it much easier. Neji was concentrating his chakra in the cocoon he was currently in, and the rest of them were caught in webbing. As soon as Kidomaru attack the last clone, I tackled him out of the tree.

He grabbed onto me with two arms, using the other four to cast out webbing to catch himself. He whipped me out into the open then flipped onto a branch, getting a foothold. I looked at my wrists to see his strings wrapped around them, and silently cursed as he threw me in the opposite direction.

"Whooa!" I sailed through the air then promptly smacked into a tree, landing beside Shikamaru. "Heya!" I said to him, giving him a wave. He face palmed before giving out a sigh.

"This guy is proving to be difficult." He commented as Naruto dove in, only to get the same treatment I did. Neji quickly dove in to attack, successfully countering Kidomaru. "Looks like Neji is the only one to can deal with this guy." I told Shikamaru. He grimaced, realizing I was right.

Everyone gathered on our branch, realizing the predicament we were in.

"You guys go ahead. I'll deal with this guy." Neji told the rest of us. Akamaru whined once more. "He's a lot more powerful than the one before. A lot." Kiba told him.

"Well, each of us has our own target that we need to take down. Besides, if we all stop here, we won't be able to catch up to Sasuke."

"Naruto," Neji started. "You have better eyes than me. Help Sasuke see the light." Naruto nodded. "So get going; I'll catch up with you guys later." We took off, leaving Neji to fight his battle. As much as I wanted to tell him to watch out, I knew he needed this to help him grow as a shinobi.

"So it seems like we're the only ones left." Kiba commented as we rushed through the trees. "Choji and Neji will catch up soon, I'm sure of it." Naruto was full of confidence, as per usual. It's something I worried about sometimes.

We travelled on, gaining distance on the other two sound shinobi. Akamaru had already alerted us to their presence, telling us that we were close. All I had to do is keep an eye out for Kimimaro.

"We've got two more enemies, and there are four of us. If we do this right, we can finish this here." I shook my head. "Just because there are more of us, doesn't mean we can let our guard down." The other three nodded and got ready for the capture of the coffin as we came upon our opponents once again.

"I'll kill them all!" Sakon shouted as he charged us. I jumped out of the way; he was quick. He came in for the punch, hitting Shikamaru and Kiba. Naruto lay in wait behind them, rasengan in hand. Sakon easily caught his hands, disabling his jutsu. Kiba used his piercing fang, tunnelling through the clone. Sakon ducked, but it was all planned. Tayuya was right in the line of the attack, and Kiba was coming in fast.

Shikamaru used his shadow possession jutsu, catching her in her place. Kiba went straight over the coffin, grabbing it and flipping out of the way. Sakon chased after the boy, but Shikamaru moved Tayuya in the way, causing them to stumble over each other. Kiba tossed the coffin to Naruto, who caught it, "Nice job! Shikamaru, Kiba!" I stayed back, knowing what was about to happen.

The three boys turned and started away, but Sakon was having none of it. "You're not getting away!" he shouted viciously as he began chasing them. I jumped out of my hiding spot, kicking him in the stomach and flipping onto the branch above him. "Forget about me?" I asked innocently. He bounded over and ignored me, going after Akamaru who had just set up an explosive tag.

"Stop howling, you bitch!" he screamed at the poor dog. I rolled my eyes before panicking at the sight of Akamaru getting caught in a wire trap, dangerously close to the explosive tag. Kiba turned back, disappearing in the smoke as the trap went off. Kiba, Akamaru and Sakon appeared again, only sailing out over the edge of the nearby cliff and into the ravine.

"Kiba!" I shouted, only to get punch in the face by the lone girl. She ran by me, going after the two boys. I'm starting to wonder if they even think I'm a threat. "You son of a bitch!" she screamed at the other two.

"Naruto, Suchiru, go ahead, I'll take of her!" I nodded and ran at Naruto, grabbing him by the back of the collar. Then I felt a presence. A strong one. A figure jumped down, hitting the coffin with their feet expertly, manoeuvring it out of our reach.

"What are you doing here… Kimimaro?!" Tayuya shouted, looking almost panicked at the sight of him. He landed a bit away from us, setting the coffin down gently. "Tayuya, you're late. And where are the other three?" he turned to face the girl in question. She never answered.

"This vessel was for Orochimaru." Naruto flinched at the name. "You were too late." he continued. I breathed a breath of relief, now knowing it would be a couple more years for Orochimaru to transfer bodies again. Naruto jumped after him, "Quit spouting bullshit!"

"Naruto..!" Shikamaru and I yelled in unison. Tayuya jumped down in front, throwing him back at us. Shikamaru caught him, and I dove in, not letting Kimimaro get away. Tayuya tried to stop me, but I blocked her punch and grabbed her arm, throwing her away from me. "I won't let you get away with him!" I shouted to our new opponent.

I followed briskly behind him, but he showed no intentions of stopping. I sighed to myself, knowing that I won't be able to play around with my food before I eat it. I boosted myself with some chakra, instantly gaining on him. I grabbed Kimimaro by the collar, tossing him out into the open field ahead of us.

"You are stronger than the others." He commented while straightening himself up. I crossed my arms, leaning on one hip. "Yeah. Just a bit." He glared at me, sizing me up. A sharp wind passed by me, making me smile. "I'm not the one you need to worry about, though." I told him as Naruto landed in the middle of us.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted aggressively, the nine tails chakra already seeping out. "What does Orochimaru want?! Why does he want Sasuke?!" Kimimaro sighed.

"Orochimaru has already achieved true immortality. In order to know all jutsu in the world, well, it requires time."

"What does that have to do with Sasuke?!" Naruto questioned.

"Immortality of the mind is what he achieved. Not the body. He must transfer into a newer and stronger body before his current one gives in." Naruto was silent. "So that's what he wants Sasuke for, am I correct?" I asked him, and he nodded. "Precisely."

"Well I won't let you do that!" Naruto shouted, creating a massive amount of clones. They surrounded the three of us; their numbers must have been in the hundreds. Kimimaro looked around, uninterested. "Come then. Let's get this over with." Naruto growled before attacking. Kimimaro dodged flawlessly, taking down one after the other. It was amazing to watch. I hadn't seen anyone with footwork this great other than Itachi. Granted; Itachi was much better, but still. _Damn._

"Naruto!" I yelled over his clones. The action had paused, giving him the chance to look over Kimimaro's abilities. "Naruto! That's his kekkei genkai. He's able to pull bones out of anywhere in his body, and they are as hard as steel." Kimimaro glowered at me, unknowing to how I knew about his power. Then there was a soft fizzing noise coming from the coffin, and I knew time was running out.

"You have to finish this now, Naruto. Time is running low!" He nodded, getting back into action. The longer they went on, the more the coffin hissed. It went on and on and on, until only Naruto was left. Not one hit landed on Kimimaro either. He didn't even look winded. The coffin behind him started smoking, and emitted a high pitched squeal before exploding.

The smoke surrounded us, causing me to cough. As soon as it cleared, a figure stood slightly hunched over. I activated my sharingan, seeing a massive amount of chakra. More than Sasuke had. But it was him. And he was in the second stage of the curse mark activation.

"Sasuke…" I could barely talk. I couldn't believe that he went to Orochimaru to get the curse mark for more power. "Sasuke! What the hell are you doing with these guys?! Let's go back home!" Naruto called out to him, clueless as to what was actually happening. A guttural laugh escaped Sasuke's lips. Naruto tried running after him, but Kimimaro blocked his way, swinging his bone to kill. I flickered in between the two, stopping his attack with my arm.

"I'm your opponent now."

….

HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO mang. Sorry about these unplanned haituses. I had stuff pertaining to my future to do so I didn't have a lot of time to write. I try though

Also, if you're confused, Suchiru only told Shisui, Itachi and Kakashi Obito's _current_ abilities. Not future.


	14. Chapter 14

Kimimaro and I remained still for a few moments. I gave a quick glance to Naruto, he nodded and jumped off after his friend. I moved my attention back to the boy in front of me and twisted my arm, grabbing the bone and shattering it. He glared at me and jumped back, putting a few meters between us.

"I guess there's no point in asking you to back down, huh?" I asked him somewhat sarcastically. He responded by lifting his hand and pointing all his fingers at me. As he shot the bone tips out, I bent back and watched as they flew by. I knew most of his techniques and what to look out for, so it would be easy to dodge if I knew they were coming. But… I know he's far faster than I am. I grabbed my tanto and charged him, getting a feel for his speed. He blocked almost every hit I made, save for the small scratches.

I back off. I activated my earth spear technique, making my arms and legs turn almost black. He sped forward, trying to make any hit he could, but my jutsu made his efforts useless. I tried plunging my arm through his chest, but his ribs came out, scratching up my face. I pulled back quickly and wiped the blood from my above my eyes.

"This is my kekkei-genkai. Unpredictable, isn't it?" He commented. I smirked.

"You could say that. But unfortunately I know all your little secrets." His eyes narrowed. "But, if that's the way you want to play," I placed my hands on the ground and forced chakra into the earth. "I can fight fire with fire."

The ground shook before a crack formed. Something Fugaku helped me with. All I had to do was find the minerals in the ground and grind them into metal, allowing me to use my own bloodline limit. Metallic dust seeped out, forming a thick cloud between the two of us. He tensed; he was now on guard.

 _Iron Sand: Scattered Showers!_

The cloud quickly became small beads, speeding towards him. Many made contact, but he was still using his bones to take up most of the impact. I stopped the iron around him, watching as he looked at the levitating sand. I clapped my hands together, causing the iron to split into spikes, causing more damage to Kimimaro. I felt a surge of power, and activated my sharingan. Looking at Kimimaro, I could tell he was about to go into the second stage of the curse mark. He wasn't going to mess around anymore.

The mark on his chest started to move, and looked like they were on fire. His skin was now a grey colour, and his eyes almost completely black. More bones protruded from his body, and he grew a lizard like tail, making him look almost inhuman. I gathered my iron sand back to me, and quickly made spears. I launched them at him one by one, but Kimimaro dodged every single one. He ran at me again, much faster than before. I flickered out of his way but he didn't stop. Adjusting himself quickly, he came at me again. I made a thick wall of iron sand in front of me, attempting to stop him.

I felt a shudder as he collided with it, then a spear made from his bone broke through, slicing the air just beside my head. I whipped out my kunai and infused it with chakra. I brought it down hard on the spear, but it didn't go through. In fact, there wasn't even a scratch on it. My eyes widened in realization, and I quickly wrapped the sand around his arm, keeping him from moving.

The moment was short lived as he ripped his arm free and came at me again. I ducked under him and flipped him over, kicking him away to get some distance between us. He darted at me, and I jumped up and out of the way. Spiralling up at me, he grabbed me around my torso. I felt my chest get pierced several times before the horizon turned and we spun back towards the ground. I waited for the impact, expecting to come full force at the ground, but the landing was soft.

Kimimaro ripped his bones out of my chest, leaving behind a massive amount of damage. My body started to cave in, turning into iron sand as I appeared behind my new ally.

"It only took you, like, two months to get here, thanks."

"Please, I like to take my time." he responded. I gave a chuckle, and then turned my attention back to the enemy.

"Gaara… Of the Sand. So it was you…" Kimimaro had no time to continue as Gaara had his sand after him as quick as he could. Kimimaro jumped around, avoiding the sand and attempting to attack using his fingertip bones like bullets. Gaara formed a sand cloud above Kimimaro's head, distracting him from the sand at his feet. Kimimaro was surrounded by sand, but the two of us knew that he wasn't down.

"Desert avalanche?" I asked the boy beside me. He nodded.

"Desert avalanche."

We both put our hands together, and molded the earth beneath us. His sand and mine mixed together, creating a massive wave taller than any building I've ever seen. It cascaded downward, covering the expansive field we were in.

 _Sabaku Taisou!_

Our palms slammed against the ground and the earth shuddered. I sent a pulse of chakra through, sensing Kimimaro moving even after we condensed the sands.

"He's quite persistent, isn't he?" Gaara asked as we watch him surface. Gaara was quick to use his desert coffin, but even that couldn't stop Kimimaro from coming after the two of us. Gaara and I made a wall, but there was Kimimaro, busting right through it and sending us flying.

I sent some of my iron sand at him, but he dodged easily.

"This sand… Is getting annoying." He said to us. He put a hand behind his head, and started to pull his spine out. I turned away, almost gagging at the sight. Gaara watched him, eyes just a bit wider than normal.

"Tessenka no Mai." I turned back to help Gaara up, and as soon as he stood up, Kimimaro's spine wrapped around the two of us. Gaara's sand was quick to react, and thankfully decided to protect me as well. Unfortunately, I was facing away from our enemy, so I could only hear him calling out the names of his moves.

"This is the strongest bone in my body. It will have no trouble piercing through your pathetic defence." I started feeding Gaara some of my chakra, since I couldn't see the situation. I heard the spear hitting Gaara's ultimate defence, the grinding hurting my ears. Then a small crack, and then a shatter. The spear had been destroyed easily.

"You do realize how much chakra you _just_ used up, right?" I asked Kimimaro as the sand around us exploded outward, sending the spine outward and away from us. I shook myself off and turned to face him. The sand surrounded his feet started to swallow him up, shock clearly written on his face. I focused some of my chakra into the ground, trying to help out my temporary partner.

The ground shuddered, and I activated my sharingan, trying to find where he was. It was just a big cloud of blue. Though I could see a more condensed spot, seemingly human.

Another shudder.

Bones starting shooting up across the field, making me jump. Gaara quickly made a platform allowing us to levitate over them. I had to steady myself before I could look over the edge. It was like Kimimaro created a forest out of his own bones, it was amazing. I looked over to Gaara, the sweat dripping from his brow.

"He was stubborn. But he won't be coming back. Not after that." He let out a breath of relief. I gave a short chuckle.

"Think again." We both whipped around to see him charging. He was going straight for Gaara, and like hell I was going to let him get away with it. I flickered between them, taking Kimimaro's bone spear straight through the stomach, but thankfully it was only the end of it. I slid myself off carefully when the man made no move to take the spear back. I stepped onto the sand Gaara provided for me, taking a knee.

"Is he dead?" I asked through a grimace. He nodded. I took a deep breath before standing again.

"All right then. I'm going after the two idiots. You coming?" He nodded again, and we took off in search. I knew where they went; the Valley of the End. I shrugged off my haori, making a quick and sloppy bandage out of it. I had no idea how far away we were. But I had to hurry.

For Sasuke's sake.

….

It took about half an hour, plus one stop to throw up a bit from the _slight_ pain in my stomach, but we got there. Both Naruto and Sasuke were down in the canyon fighting, and Naruto was on the losing end of it.

But I could tell Sasuke wasn't exactly giving it his all, either. I jumped from the top of the Hashirama statue, landing between the two rivals. I stayed down for a second, to catch my breath.

"Suchiru?!" Naruto half yelled at me. I stood up, giving a slight nod to him before marching up to the other boy and grabbing him by his collar.

"Sasuke! What the _hell_ do you-"

"I'm sorry." he cut me off abruptly.

"Eh?"

"I said I'm sorry. I'm not saying it again." I was taken back by his response. He was _sorry?_

"What the hell are you talking about, kid?! You drag us out to the Valley of the End to tell us you're sorry?!" He diverted his eyes downward in a sort of shameful manner.

"Yeah. I made a mistake." I didn't know what to say. This kid was not only admitting he was wrong, but he also apologized. The world was going to fucking end. I could even tell from his body language that this was sincere. And his chakra was subdued. I let him back down to his feet before closing my eyes and running my hands down my face.

"Alright, come back to the shore. I want to talk about this." I told him and he hesitantly nodded. Naruto was standing there dumbfounded. I put an arm around his shoulders, guiding him back to the shore. But in truth I was kinda using him for a crutch. _But he didn't need to know._

I sat myself down on a rock, putting my hands together and resting my head on them. "So what made you come to this decision?" I asked the Uchiha boy.

"This idiot here." He said, pointing to Naruto, who was just as confused as I was. I waved my hand, getting him to continue. He rolled his eyes. "I realized that I was being more of a moron than he was- don't say a word- and came to the conclusion that going to a 'crazy snake man' as Naruto put it, was not a good idea." I could only stare at the boy in disbelief.

"And what do you plan to do about the curse mark?" Gaara, who just joined us, asked.

"I'm not sure." I sighed at this; he knew nothing about it.

"The seal carries a bit of Orochimaru's power in it. So each person who has it has a piece of Orochimaru in them." I explained. Naruto jumped up, "So how do we get rid of it?!"

"We'll have to exert Sasuke, make him use up all his chakra. When his chakra supplies are depleted and he tries to use more despite not having any, it will activate it and summon that little bit of suppressed chakra that contains the part of Orochimaru, and seal it." That was the best and most simple way I could explain it.

"So are we going to do it right now?!" Naruto asked from beside me. I sighed, shaking my head no. "I think we need to go back for now. That is something we can do another day. Besides, we have a few teammates we need to pick up."

…..

We travelled back towards where we left Shikamaru, finding him, Temari, Kiba and Kankuro in a group on the edge of the forest. Naruto helped Kiba back; given his extensive injury and little chakra he was barely able to remain conscious. It didn't take long to reach Neji from that point, and I took care of him, much to Kiba's dismay. I helped him onto my back, ignoring the boy's protests. He was soon unconscious, so it mattered little anyway.

Then we came up to the first tree that Shikamaru marked, seeing Choji sitting underneath it. At first, Shikamaru panicked upon seeing his comrade. I assured him that Choji would be okay, and told Kankuro to help him back.

I led the team back, and Sasuke stayed close to me the entire way back. Every time I tried to make eye contact with him, he would look away. In any other direction but mine. I have a feeling that this power struggle may not be over.

….

When we arrived to the gates of the village, medical personnel was sent for right away. I handed Neji over when they got here, and followed them in for my own wound, Sasuke still on my heels. I was taken to a room where they started to heal me up before assisting the other doctors with the worse wounded. I sat in the medical bed, legs crossed and Sasuke sat at the end.

"Hey, Sasuke…" I said, reaching for his hand. He retracted it into his lap, putting his head down. He then abruptly stood up, walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me.

"I'm so sorry…" He said quietly, a bit of shaking in his voice. I almost started crying. I hugged him back, "I'm glad you decided to come home." He nodded into my shoulder. And we sat like that, not letting each other go until footsteps came into our room. I looked up and saw Itachi, worry laced all over his face. I gave a smile, and extended my arm to him. He just sighed, but came in for our hug.

"Itachi! Please don't go in-" a voice pleaded before stopping. I would have looked to see who it was, but Itachi's shoulder was currently in my face. A soft 'aww' was heard before another body threw themselves into the mix. We shortly broke apart, three out of the four of us with tears staining our faces. Only one trying to hide it.

"Itachi, are you crying?" Shisui asked him incredulously. The man in question only coughed, turning away. I laughed, pointing out his red cheeks, which didn't seem to help the situation. Sasuke, much to our surprise, actually bowed to his brother, apologies spilling out of his mouth. For leaving, for being an idiot, for not trusting him. Itachi just smiled, bending down to his level and speaking softly to him. Shisui sat beside me on the bed, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

"So how everything go? I mean I only saw a couple injured when I came in." I sighed, leaning into him.

"Neji, I think, got the worst of it. I only got stabbed through the stomach, same with Kiba. Choji just has extreme chakra exhaustion, or something like it. He did very well, I must add." His eyes went wide when I told him of my injury, but I brushed it off. "The sand siblings came in handy for us."

"The sand..? I thought they were our enemies?" I gave a short laugh. "I guess Tsunade pulled through for us. She must have made an alliance. I mean, without a Kazekage they need all they can get right now." A new body entered my room, waving over at me.

"Jiraiya!" I exclaimed at the man. "Yes, I'm here to talk to you, Suchiru." I blinked, unsure of what he wanted. "About the mission." he clarified. My eyes widened at realization.

"Hey, you guys?" I asked the other three boys currently in the room. Their attention turned to me, "Can you give us a few minutes? Official business stuff." They all nodded and left, leaving Jiraiya and I.

"If you're wondering about Orochimaru, they were obviously too late." He nodded at my statement. "They also sent Kimimaro to speed things up, so we know that he wasn't used for the transfer. He's dead." Jiraiya let out a breath of relief.

"That's good. That's good to hear. But now that this has passed, thankfully with success, I'm going to take Naruto out and train him. The Akatsuki won't be back for a while, so I want to make the most of it." I nodded. "Yes, and I want to convince Itachi to make more time for his brother. Hopefully now that this has happened he will. If not, I'll take him." I explained.

"And if I do, I'll be taking him out on the road. Do some research in the field." He nodded again, then walked to the door. "I'll hold you to that." I smiled and waved as he left, then got up and dressed into a pair of capris and a sleeveless turtleneck. I walked out of the room, then down the hallway to where Kiba was being held.

"Hey Hana, Kiba." I greeted the two siblings. Hana turned around quickly, giving me a big smile.

"Good to see you walking around! I'm glad the mission was a success." I nodded. "Yes, me too. How is Kiba doing? And Akamaru?"

"These two will be just fine. Akamaru won't be able to walk for a bit, but a full recovery is expected, as long as Kiba doesn't do anything dumb." I laughed, it seemed like younger brothers were all the same.

"Well, I'm gonna get going. I have a couple of boys I need to catch up to. I'll talk to you later!" I said as I left the room. The three of them were standing a bit down the hallway, so I quickly caught up to them. I wrapped my arm around Sasuke's shoulder and dragged him out of the hospital.

"We're going out for ice cream, got it?" I told him and he nodded, still a bit silent. We walked down the streets, getting a few odd looks. When we reached the shop and got our treats, I guided him over to a table.

"Suchiru…" I looked over at him curiously.

"I want to train with you."

….

 _Two weeks later_

… _._

"Alright, we are setting off!" Sasuke, Itachi, Shisui, and I were gathered at the gate of Konoha.

"Are you sure you don't want me to go too?" Shisui asked me. I shook my head no. "We'll be fine. Besides we have some secrets we have to uncover." Itachi looked even more worried.

"Are you two going to be alright? You have everything you need?" He asked, looking us over quickly. "Please Itachi, we'll be alright. I am a responsible adult. I know how to care for a child."

"I'm not a chi-"

"ALRIGHT! Time to go." I walked up to Itachi, giving him a hug. "We'll survive, don't worry _mom._ " He sighed, defeated. "Okay, just be careful. Nothing too dangerous?" I gave him a wink and moved to Shisui.

"You gonna miss me?" I asked him. He brought me into a hug. "More than anything." I smiled, leaning up to kiss him. We must have gone on for a bit too long, as I heard a cough behind me. I back away after giving another quick one, then walked up to my new apprentice.

"We'll be back! Eventually!" I shouted to the two boys. "No having fun without us!"

"Have fun!" "Be safe!" I heard the two of them shout in unison as we walked out of the gates.

"We are not promising anything!"

…..

 _Three years later_

…..

"This sand is disgusting." Sasuke spoke as we headed towards my home village. I laughed, "It's coarse, rough, irritating and gets everywhere?"

"You could say that." I bursted out laughing. Hah, good ol' Star Wars. We had decided to take a break along the border before traversing the entire desert in one go. We picked up goggles; my suggestion, and had scarves wrapped around the lower half of our faces.

"How much farther in do we have to go?" He asked as the sandstorm died down. I shrugged my shoulders. "You're asking the one who hasn't been here for- what? Eighteen years? I'm not sure. Shouldn't be long though. Look, the village is there, on the horizon." I could see the walls of the village in the distance, but they were a ways away. What caught my eye next was a body lying in the sand not too far from us. I rushed up to the figure and carefully turned the body over.

"Kankuro?!" I checked his pulse; he was still alive. "Sasuke, help me get him back!" I quickly sealed his puppets away and put the scroll in my pouch, then lifted one of Kankuro's arms around my shoulder, Sasuke doing the same. We stepped up the pace to the village, reaching it in less than half an hour. We reached the singular entrance, and there was blood everywhere, but no bodies. The cleanup crew must have already gotten here.

"C'mon. I think I remember where the hospital is." Sasuke nodded and we rushed in the suspected direction. It took us a couple of minutes, plus asking directions, and we reached the emergency section.

"Please, he needs help quickly! It's Kankuro, the Kazekage's brother!" The receptionist nodded motioning us to take him to a room on the left. He started moving around in our hold, groaning.

"Kankuro, please you need to stay still. The more you move around the more the poison will spread." The moving ceased a bit, but he was still in pain. So this was the work of Sasori. I wonder if he used the same stuff on father...

"Please, set him down here." One of the medics asked of us. We carefully laid him down on the bed.

"He's poisoned. He only has three days to get it out of him." I told them urgently. They nodded and started getting to work. I tried to rack my brain for what type of poison it was. I paced back and forth in the room, watching the man in pain.

"The poison is…" I mumbled under my breath. "What?" Sasuke asked from his chair.

"The poison is made from refined metals!" I yelled at him, making him jump. "I can get it out! Or most of it anyway." I pointed at the nearest nurse.

"You! Get me a pan of warm water! Hurry!" She jumped at my sudden pointing, but quickly ran to get me what I needed. "You two!" I pointed to the two males in the room. "When I start this up, I need you to hold him down! If he's not still I can mess up and end up killing him. Get his shoulders. Sasuke, get his legs." They all got into position and the woman brought in the tub of water.

I cut an incision on the opposite side of the original cut, and then picked up the water with chakra. I nodded to the men and they held him down. "Kankuro, if you can hear me, I'm sorry." I forced the water in the cut I made, closed my eyes and focused on trying to find the metal in his body without taking any of his blood. He started to move around, and I looked at the two at his shoulders.

"Please hold him down! You have no idea how much concentration this needs. One mistake, and I'll be taking out the iron in his blood, and not the poison." I directed. They nodded again, and held him down much harder. I resumed the operation, and reached across his body. I started to pull out the water; thankfully with the poison in it. As soon as it was all out, I placed it into the pan the water was brought out in.

"Alright. He's out of immediate danger. I'm assuming people already sent for help?" I asked one of the nurses. She shook her head. "I-I'm not sure."

"Can you find out for me? I would like to know." I asked her again, removing the poison from the water and putting it in its own container. She nodded and ran out of the room. A few minutes later, Baki came walking in, a grim look on his face when he saw Kankuro.

"He'll be fine. I got most of it out." I told him. "Now all we need is an antidote, but I don't know how to mix them." He looked at me, "You're a medic, but don't know how to mix antidotes?"

"I never said I was a medic. I just knew how to get it out of his system. Who did you send for?" He tried to look past my attitude as he answered. "I asked for Tsunade of Konoha to send help." I smiled.

"Good, good. Hopefully Sakura will be among them. She can mix an antidote. As for who did this," I trailed off, waiting for him to answer. Baki only closed his eyes; he didn't know. I sighed, rubbing my eyes. I walked over to the more open side of the room and took out the scroll I used to seal Kankuro's puppets. I rolled it on the floor and released the seal, allowing the contents to spill over the floor.

"This was at the scene. The man who did this was powerful enough to destroy the puppets." Baki looked over the weapons carefully, looking for any clues. "Got an idea yet?" I asked him impatiently. He shook his head no.

"It was Sasori. Of the Red Sand?" He looked up to me suddenly, and then promptly demanded an explanation.

"Well, no one else knows these puppets better than Kankuro. No one but the original creator. Besides," I said as I pried open the one hand that was salvaged. "This is a piece of his mask. It'll help when the others get here." He nodded, then turned to leave.

"Please stay here for a moment." He told us before turning into the hallway and walking away. I raised an eyebrow at Sasuke, but he only shrugged. I sat next to the boy, letting my shoulders sag. "That was pretty intense." I said.

"It looked pretty intense. I mean, I had a good time holding his feet." He said sarcastically. I elbowed him in the stomach, only resulting in a laugh from him. I heard my patient stirring on the table, and quickly rushed over to him.

"Kankuro, how are you feeling?" I asked as I dipped a rag in cold water and placed it carefully on his forehead. "I'm alright now, thanks to you I guess. Why are you two even here?" I sighed, placing my hands on my hips.

"We found you in the desert on our way in. We were coming to speak with Gaara, but I guess we were too late for him." He nodded, placing his head back down on his pillow. "Well, I'm thanking you. You helped _me_ this time." he said with a chuckle. Footsteps entered the room, and we turned to look.

 _Elder Chiyo..?_

"You!" she shouted, pointing at me. I jumped up, running to the old lady and embracing her.

"I never thought I would say this, but I missed you, Chiyo-baasan!" I told her, squeezing her tightly. She hugged back, laughing. "You've gotten so tall, you brat!" I backed away with a big smile on my face. The others in the room seemed to be pretty confused, except for Sasuke, who hid back in his corner.

"Ohoho, that's right! None of you were around when she was last here." She gave a hearty laugh while smacking Baki on his back. "She's the Third Kazekage's daughter, Suchiru!" Multiple gasps and 'whats?!' were heard around the room. I laughed nervously, scratching the back of my head.

"You're the missing kid?!" Kankuro asked from his bed, now sitting upright. I looked over to Chiyo, and she laughed again. "She was never missing. She's been in Konoha since the war." she explained to him. I nodded in confirmation.

"I was there during the chunin exams, and the 'Sasuke rescue mission'. Don't you remember me?" He nodded. "I didn't think you were the Kazekage's daughter though. It explains what Gaara was telling me though." I raised an eyebrow at him.

"He was going on about how you were using the same jutsu as him while fighting that Kimimaro guy." My eyes widened in realization. "OH yeah okay, I remember that." Ah, the good times of fighting weaker opponents…

"Kankuro, you need to rest." Baki told him, then turning to Sasuke and I. "I'll show you to where you will be staying until your allies get here." We nodded and I waved to Kankuro. "I'll check up on you later. Get the doctors to keep that stuff safe until Sakura gets here." I told him, pointing to the container of poison at his bedside. He nodded and we left, following Baki to our rooms.

He brought us to the lower levels of the Kazekage's tower. It was strange being back, some things changed, while others stayed the same. We put our things in our room, then decided to take a walk around. I walked up the stairs to the next level, where I used to have my room. I knocked on the door, and hearing no answer. I carefully opened the door, and almost cried at the sight.

Everything was how I left it.

The plastic throwing stars discarded on the floor, the targets thrown all over the walls. My bed way made; that was always a rare occurrence here. The blanket folded on the end of my bed; one that mother had made for me while she was pregnant. On a small table next to the door was a glass case holding the first spoon I had ever melted. Father had molded it back together and gotten it cased as a special gift for my second birthday. I walked over to the closet, opening it up to find all my old clothes still there, and other bigger ones added to the collection.

"We always kept it like this. A lot of the villagers believed that you and your parents would return." Chiyo spoke the doorway. "I can't believe this… Everything was exactly as I left it." It was such a weird sensation, coming back to this. I looked up to Chiyo again.

"Take me to his statue."

…..

We arrived into the meeting room, where the statues of the first four Kazekage's were erected. I walked in front of my fathers, and the tears starting to roll down my cheeks. I fell to my knees, bowing down before it.

"I'm so sorry… So sorry…" I cried. Chiyo stood beside me, a hand on my back. "Your father would be proud of who you are. I have no doubt in my mind." I sniffed heavily, wiping my eyes.

"I'd like to believe so, too."

…..

The reinforcements arrived, and we met them at the hospital.

"Sasuke! Suchiru!" Naruto and Sakura exclaimed. I embraced the girl while Naruto and Sasuke shook hands. "Sakura, come with me, they need your help." I told her as I walked her to Kankuro's room. When we arrived I took the container with the poison out and handed it to her.

"I got most of it out of his system, but he still needs an antidote. I'm guessing you can make one?" She nodded. "I can, but how did you know how to get out?" she asked me.

"I've done one or two operations like this." She nodded again, then turned to one of the nurses to bring her to the herbal greenhouse. The two of them left as the other boys walked into the room.

"Kankuro, how are you doing?" Kakashi asked him while shaking his hand. "Good, thanks to Suchiru. I'm glad she came across me when she did." I nodded with a smile, taking a seat beside his bed.

"So," Kakashi started again. "What was your opponent like?" Kankuro sighed.

"There were two of them, one was an explosive expert. Real dangerous. The other…" He trailed off recalling his encounter. I coughed from my spot. "We are dealing with two S-ranked shinobi from the Akatsuki, Kakashi. It's-"

"Konoha's White Fang!" Chiyo shouted from the doorway. She went to attack Kakashi, only to be block by Naruto. I ran my hands down my face, exhausted already. "Chiyo-Baasan, that's not the White Fang. It's his son, Kakashi." I calmly explain. She bursted out laughing.

"Hahaha! I knew that! I was joking, joking…" She trailed off. Kakashi let go of his breath, thankful that she wasn't going to attack him. "Anyway, Suchiru. What were you going on about before?" Kakashi asked me.

"Right. We are dealing with one Deidara of Iwagakure. Explosive expert, very smart, and used to be a terrorist for hire." I explained, then going on about his abilities and how he uses his jutsu. They all nodded along as I went.

"The other… Well, he's not someone to be trifled with either. He was the one who concocted the poison that was used against Kankuro." I shook a bit, thinking of the man. "It's Sasori of the Red Sand." Chiyo froze at the name, believing her grandson to be dead.

"I can fill you in on the rest when we get going. Chiyo-baasan, are you coming with us?" I asked her. She nodded. "Yes, just let me get some things."

…..

We were on our way to find the hideout, which I had informed them was in the River country. Of course, I played it off as research from my time away, and not prior knowledge. We were about to approach a clearing, but Kakashi held his hand out.

"Everyone, Stop!" We gathered ourselves at the edge of the forest, meeting with another Akatsuki member. And it was not one I was okay with.

"Tobi…" A low growl left my throat.

"Hiya~!" he greeted, playing his innocent alter ego. I glanced over to Kakashi, who seemed to be giving the same expression I was. Anger.

"You shouldn't take your eyes off of your opponent~!" He said, coming in to attack me. Sasuke intercepted, kicking him away and I followed it up with my wind cutter technique. It hit him dead on, but just fazed right through him. Tobi stood back up to his full height, then looked over to Naruto. I jumped in front of him, trying to block his line of sight, but it was too late. Naruto was caught in a genjutsu.

"Unfortunately," Kakashi started, "Suchiru, Sasuke and I are the only ones who be able to handle this one." He said after taking a quick glance at Naruto. "Sakura, look after Naruto, alright?" Sasuke asked her. She nodded quickly, and began looking over him for any damage.

"Ready to fight alongside us, Kakashi-senpai?" I asked. He took a deep breath, closing one eye and opening the other; his sharingan. Sasuke activated his and I followed suit, getting ready to attack.

Tobi launched a fireball at us, making us dodge out of the way. Kakashi went underground, while Sasuke and I went around it. I activated my earth spear technique, jumping in and handling hand to hand combat. Sasuke readied himself, using his chidori. Although, instead of running at Tobi with it, he hit the ground with it, making lighting erupt around both Tobi and I. Since I used my earth spear, I was immune to it. I gripped onto his arms, holding him down. He screamed in agony, making me smile maliciously.

He kicked me away suddenly and jumped out of the danger zone, holding his side. Kakashi jumped up from the ground, aiming for Tobi's chin. Tobi dodged backwards, only to have my electrified tanto run through his chest. It was a hit too, the blood splattered onto the ground. He laughed like a maniac before dropping to his knees, and smoke surrounded us.

When everything had cleared, Tobi wasn't there. Instead, a sand shinobi dressed as Akatsuki took his place. I sighed, realizing that I should have anticipated this. It was way too easy to fight him; and the fact that I also knew that it wasn't really them.

Naruto cried out from beside Sakura, finally being knocked out of the genjutsu that he was put under.

"What happened?!" He yelled out. "You were caught in genjutsu, idiot." Sasuke 'explained' to him. Naruto then sulked realizing that he missed out on the fight. I stretched my back, letting out a groan.

"Let's get going now?"

….

We met up with Gai's team, who stood outside of the barrier. I quickly explained what kind of barrier it was, and directed them in the ways that the other four seals were located. Neji fact checked me, and they each assigned one of them to one seal. They left, leaving the six of us to breach the front door of this Akatsuki hideout.

"Sakura, are you ready?" Kakashi spoke from his spot at the seal. She nodded, focusing her chakra into her fist. I poked Sasuke's side, "Hey, watch this. She's pretty badass." He flicked my finger away from him, then glanced down to Sakura.

"Alright, go!" Kakashi ripped the seal off, and Sakura dashed up to the boulder, and punched it. The entire thing came apart, and for a second I could have sworn I saw Sasuke gawking. We all jumped into the cave, landing in front of the two Akatsuki members, one which was using Gaara as a makeshift chair.

"Sasori…" Chiyo whispered beside me. I looked over at the puppeteer, glaring daggers at him. I couldn't wait to throw my fist right through his face.

"Which one of you is the jinchuuriki, I wonder?" Deidara spoke from his spot.

"You bastards! I'll kill you!" Naruto shouted at them. I face palmed, so much for subtlety. The two across from us started to argue, from who was taking Naruto out to whose views on art were superior.

"Art is in the eye of the beholder! Can we get on with this?!" I half yelled at the two of them. Both just scoffed, and Deidara got up onto his bird before looking back at me. "Hang on, I know you from somewhere." He put his hand on his chin, in deep thought. I crossed my arms, one eyebrow raised.

"Oh!" he shouted. "Chunin exams, when they were held in Iwagakure! You were the one who picked on little kids!" My jaw dropped. _That's_ how he remembers me?!

"Are you an idiot?!" I shouted back. "See? Picks on little kids." He said to his partner.

"You're nineteen years old! You only have the mentality of a kid!" I retorted. A hand smacked the back of my head, and I whipped my head around to meet the glare of Sasuke. "Suchiru, please don't rile up the Akatsuki members." I couldn't believe him.

"That is like, the exact same thing your brother told me when I saw him last time." Sasuke rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Can we move on, please?"

"Yes, I'm itching to get yet another jinchuuriki." Sasori chipped in from across the room. Deidara sighed, jumping onto his bird and taking Gaara with him. "Have fun, Sasori-danna." He flew out of the room, Naruto quickly going after him. Kakashi yelled for him, but to no avail. He quickly followed suit.

"Sasuke, go get your idiot and calm him down." I told him as he rolled his eyes and left after the other two boys. Sakura, Chiyo and I stood in front of Sasori, ready to take him on. Sakura seemed to be a bit nervous though.

"Sakura," I put a hand on her shoulder. "There's no need to worry. Chiyo here knows her stuff." Sakura nodded, and calmed down a bit. Chiyo grabbed a string of many kunai, suspending it in the air with her chakra. She sent them forward, hitting Sasori's tail and ripping parts of his cloak. He promptly ripped it off, showing his puppet body. Sakura gasped, "Don't worry, that's not his real body." Chiyo assured her.

"If that's not his real body… Then where is he? Don't puppeteers control from a distance?" She questioned. "Not him," I said. "His real body is inside that puppet. _Hiruko_ , I believe is the name of it." I told her, getting a questioning look from Chiyo.

"How do we beat him then?"

"In order to defeat Sasori, we need to drag him out of that damned body." I said. "Only then can we take him down. And with your strength, Sakura, we can do it."

"But we need to avoid all the traps he has hidden." Chiyo stated. "They are laced with the same poison that he used on Kankuro."

"But I don't think I can-"

"Sakura." I said. "You'll be fine. The first move has been made. We can do this." I told her, while Chiyo let her hair down. "Yes, I have no doubt in my mind that we can defeat him." Chiyo told her. She then leant over, whispering to Sakura and I; though I knew what it was about. I told her that I didn't need her assistance and she nodded, and we charged in, me leading.

Sasori ripped the cloth from in front of his mouth and opened it, sending the needles flying towards us. I stopped in front of the other two, holding my hand out in front of me. I sent out chakra around me, repelling the needles away from the three of us. As soon as he ran out, he growled.

"Do you remember who I am now?!" I bellowed at him.

"Suchiru… The Third Kazekage's daughter." he answered.

…..

Alright there you go. I may have another chapter up before the 30th of July, because after that I won't be able to write for a while. And I may do mini chapters of Suchiru and Sasuke's adventures during the timeskip. Maybe. If you guys want me to.

Anywho. Enjoy!


	15. Chapter 15

Sasori and I stared each other down for a few moments before he started to attack again. He launched the fist with multiple compartments on it at us. It exploded, and I used my chakra once again to deflect the incoming needles. I know we only have two antidotes with us, so I am going to try conserving them as much as I can.

Sakura ran forward, but Sasori's tail came for her. Just as it was about to hit her it halted, being held back by Chiyo's strings. Chiyo moved the tail out of the way, allowing Sakura to finally take the shield on his back out. It buckled under the pressure of her fist, completely destroying it. His real body moved out of the way, a bit behind his destroyed puppet. He had a robe covering his face, and lifted his hand to remove it. When he did, I knew my heart wasn't the only one that stopped. He did look the exact same as he did back when I was a kid. It was a new kind of disturbing.

"Do you really think that it will be that easy to defeat me?" He asked. A low growl escaped my throat. A scroll dropped from his sleeve, and he unravelled it for us to see the kanji for 'three'. I felt my stomach drop and I froze in place. The time has finally arrived for me to avenge my father.

"I'll show you what I brought along. It wasn't easy adding this one to my collection, and that's why he's my favourite." He said as he released the seal. Smoke exploded outward, covering a fair amount of area before it disappeared and showed his weapon of choice.

"No… It can't be…" Chiyo said from beside me. "What? What is it?!" Sakura asked her.

"It's my father." I said, voice so quiet that I wasn't sure I said anything at all. She gasped. "You mean.. The Sandaime Kazekage?!" I nodded once.

"It's been almost eighteen years since he went missing. It was Sasori. He took my father away from us." I was shaking. With anger. With fear. With regret.

"I cannot believe you have fallen this far, Sasori! You've become a criminal, betrayed the village and gone after the Kazekage's three different times!" Chiyo chastised him. Sasori sighed.

"I was not the one who killed the Yondaime. It was a subordinate of mine. I had nothing to do with that." He brushed his hair out of his face. "Let's get on with this." he said as he launched his puppet at Sakura. Chiyo pulled her back, but she wasn't fast enough. I activated my earth spear technique and flickered in front of her, taking the attack.

"Let's do this, Chiyo." He said as he launched yet another attack. I stepped in front of the other two. "No! I will be your opponent whether you like it or not!" I yelled as the puppet's arm opened up and the seals broke, releasing the barrage of arms. They came down on me and Sakura, and we easily avoided being cut by them. Sakura was pulled out by Chiyo, and I took my tanto out and sliced down the arms around me like weak bamboo.

A tube appeared from the mix, spraying poisonous gas towards Sakura, and arms shot out to hold her in place. I jumped up and sliced the arms, allowing her to drop out of the gas. I jumped into it myself and expelled chakra from my hands, using the metallic structure of the poison against Sasori and moving the gas towards him instead. It quickly dispelled, and he launched a horde of kunai at the three of us. I took control of them, melting them down and using the now iron sand for myself.

"Hmph. You really are his daughter." He said as he looked me over.

"Of course I am. Do you not remember playing with me in his office when I was a child? Or has that conveniently slipped your mind?" I spat at him. The iron said floated around me, ready to be used. I took my tanto out once again and dashed forward, taking out the multitude of arms that expelled from the puppet.

Sasori detached that arm, and blades protruded from the other, coming down quickly on me. I raised my arm, blocking it easily. I kicked the puppet back creating a bit of distance between us.

"Well, this certainly has become awkward. I guess I should get serious then." He made a few hand movements before the mouth of the puppet dropped open. Iron sand started to seep out, hovering around him. I jumped back to the other two, ready to protect them.

"So, it uses the Sandaime's jutsu, too." Chiyo mumbled. Sasori laughed. "It's been awhile, eh? Since this is the jutsu that made people see him as the strongest Kazekage. I'm really gonna kill you now."

"What is it?" Sakura asked. I swallowed the lump in my throat. "It's the most feared weapon in the Sand. The iron sand. My father based it on previous Shukaku hosts. It can changed into any weapon, able to suit it for any situation. I inherited his ability to turn my chakra into a magnetic force." I explained to her.

"What does that mean? Isn't it just a puppet? How can an inanimate object have chakra?" She asked, watching said puppet carefully. "It was originally created from a living host. Thus, containing the chakra from its previous life." Chiyo told her.

"And that's why I'm the only one who can counter it." I told her. "Because I have the same ability." The iron sand around me started shifting quickly, itching to fight. "So you two need to leave. Now." I told them seriously.

"I'm not going to leave you to fight him by yourself, Suchiru!" Sakura tried. "He is my grandson; I can't let it fall to you to take him on." Chiyo said, standing her ground. I growled lowly, not happy with the responses I was getting.

"Too late." Sasori said from across the field. His iron sand formed small bullets, and they quickly came shooting at us. I hastily made a shield, protecting us from the barrage. The sand scattered behind us, and came again. Chiyo popped two of her own puppets, shielding us with chakra from behind.

"You know it's useless. You have to know how to get away. You get hit with it, you're done. The sand has already spread throughout the entire puppet, rendering it useless." Sasori said to Chiyo, who only grunted in response. I looked over to check on Sakura who had been pulled out of the way by the mother puppet.

"Are you ok?!" I asked quickly, and she nodded. I turned back to our opponent, only to see him manipulating the sand once again. "With only one puppet left," He said, creating sharp spears. "How many of you will die?!" He launched the spears at us, and I dashed towards Sakura, knowing fully well that Chiyo could protect herself with her own puppet arm.

He released a wind style from his puppets chest, increasing the velocity of the spears. I made a triangular shaped shield, knowing that I could only deflect them if I didn't want to die on their impact. They slid around the sides, lodging into the ground behind us.

"Chiyo-baachan!?" I shouted to the old lady. "I'm fine!" I heard as the dust settled. She used the chakra shield that she had incorporated into her own puppet arm, the spears lodged into the ground in front of her. I took the sand out from her arm, making it useful once again. When I turned back to Sasori, he had created giant blocks out of his own sand. I stepped out in front of two of them.

"Please, this is the time you need to leave. Chiyo-baachan, you don't have any more puppets. Sakura, it's too dangerous. His sand is soaked in the same poison as his weapons. One hit and you will die." I tried them.

"No!" Sakura shouted at me. "I am not the useless girl I used to be! Chiyo," she redirected, "Please use me as your puppet."

"Sakura… Are you sure? Iron and steel weapons are useless against the magnetic force." Sakura smiled at her. "That's perfectly fine. I'm better at hand to hand anyway!" Chiyo thought for a moment before attaching her chakra strings to her. "Alright. We will support you, Suchiru."

I nodded, knowing that it was futile to argue with them, and ran in with Sakura following as Sasori launched the giant pyramid at us. I bent the steel around us, lodging it into the wall. The other cubed shape came down on us from above, and I tackled Sakura out of the way. We got up, and both ran at it. With chakra infused punches, we launched it back at Sasori, but he dodged it, making it lodge into the wall. We both stood back up, ready for battle again.

"We aren't done yet!" Sakura shouted at him. The ceiling started to cave in on his side of the cave, and when the dust settled, he was standing there with his puppet once again.

"You call yourselves girls with that unnatural strength?" he said to us, dusting himself off. I scoffed, "You don't have to be fuckin' rude just cause you're a weak little man."

He gave a short laugh before combining the two large pieces of steel. Chakra shot out of the puppets chest, and the steel started branching out dangerously fast. _'No… World remodel…'_ I thought to myself. I knew Chiyo was out of range, but Sakura…

"Sakura, get close to me!" I shouted over the boulders breaking around us. She quickly jumped beside me and I put a shield up over us, then hunched over Sakura, trying to protect her.

The roof above us caved in even more, and rocks came tumbling down around and on top of us. I felt my iron weaken, and tried to push more chakra into it. I felt several stabs of pain, and knew it wasn't good. As soon as the dust settled, I looked down at the girl below me, only to see her looking up at me with fear. I quickly looked her over, seeing no visible scratches.

"Good, you're okay." I said as the blood spilled out of my mouth.

"Suchiru…" she started. My iron sand fell down around us, and I coughed, spitting up more blood. "Suchiru… you… you have so many…" I grunted, trying to move but little success. I pushed my chakra through my body, dispelling any of Sasori's sand that happened to pierce me.

"Sakura... Are you o-ok?" I asked her. Her eyes went wide before she quickly came up to me. "Don't worry about me, Suchiru. You're the one who's injured!" She cried. She quickly searched her pouch, and then stabbed something into my leg. _One antidote gone._ Sasori sent the puppet at us again. I quickly turned around, focusing chakra into my leg and kicked.

The puppet shattered on impact, sending pieces around the both of us. I bent over, supporting myself on my knees breathing heavily. I nodded to Sakura, and she left to tend to Chiyo. The iron sand started to fall around me, now that there was no chakra sustaining it. I looked down beside me, seeing the shattered puppet that was once my father. I fell to my knees, tears running down my face. I picked up the head, looking it over. It was like it was staring right back at me. And the mouth… was open. Just enough to make it seem like a smile. I held the forehead up to mine. _It's not over yet. I will get justice for you, father. That's a promise._

Sakura came back to me, healing up any wounds I had.

"Suchiru, you only have three minutes." She whispered to me. I nodded to her. "I know. It'll be over by then anyway." I said to her with a smile. We both turned our attention back to Sasori, watching him as he took his cloak off. Sakura froze beside me, and my shoulders slumped a bit.

"It's been a while since I last used myself." He said to us.

"He made himself into a human puppet..?" Sakura asked beside me. "Yes, and that's why he hasn't aged a day since he kidnapped my father." I told her. Sasori raised his hands, taking aim at us. Fire spewed out of the tubes in his hands, and I manipulated the sand around me to protect us.

"Sakura, get behind cover. It's getting too hot." I told her. She nodded, jumping behind a rock. I jumped out of the way and let the sand drop, finding my own cover. He ran around us, trying to get any angle he could, but failed. The canisters on his back popped, and he launched the rope from his body at Sakura. She hadn't used an antidote yet, so I rushed in and deflected it using my earth spear. It lodged into a rock, which he then used to launch himself at Chiyo.

Sakura quickly got up and started to reel in on the rope, which once it was at its end, she pulled him forward violently and punched him. His body collapsed under the pressure, sending the pieces all over the place. I felt myself off balance, wavering where I stood.

"Suchiru, it's been past three minutes, you have to stay out." Sakura told me. I tried to brush her off, but my vision went blurry. It started to fade in and out. _'I guess this is what the poison feels like.'_ I thought to myself as I coughed up blood. I fell to my knees and tried to support myself with my hands, but they were shaking too. I couldn't keep myself up, and hit the ground. The last thing I saw before completely blacking out was Sasori, reassembling his body.

….

When I woke up again, I was still laying face down on the rocks, and Sasori was on the wall. _'Chiyo must have used her ten puppest technique.'_ I shakily stood up, looking around. Sakura was close to Sasori's body, yelling at Chiyo to take the antidote. I saw movement behind Chiyo, and my eyes widened with fear. I quickly flickered over to her grabbing the puppet that rose up and pushing him back.

A sharp pain hit me in my side. I looked down, and a sword had been run through me. I looked up at Sasori, giving him the most deadly look I could.

"This is for my father." I growled at him as I formed a spear of iron sand. I grabbed it and ran it right through his heart container. His eyes went wide, and I smiled at him. "You shouldn't highlight your weak point, you fuckin' moron." I said to him as our legs both buckled. He just looked at me, wide-eyed and unbelieving. I grunted as the sword in me moved, and Sakura rushed over.

She began healing me, gently pulling the sword out. I grimaced as it finally left my body. Her hands started to shake, the healing wavering.

"Suchiru... He hit... He hit a vital spot." She tried explaining to me. "I can't... I can't…" Tears started rolling down her face as she tried to wipe them away. A hand grabbed hers, stopping her from healing me. I glanced over, watching as Chiyo switched places with her. Instead of a green glow, a white one enveloped my side. I closed my eyes, knowing that she was using her life transfer to heal me up.

"Sakura." I said to the girl beside me. She looked over at me, nodding. "In ten days at noon… Go to the Tenchi Bridge. He was supposed to meet a subordinate there." I told her. She gave me a questioning look, but didn't say anything else. I stood up and walked back over to the puppet that was once my father. I started collecting the pieces, gathering them all into one spot. I produced a scroll from my pouch, shakily making the proper seals. I stored all the parts into it before stashing it back into my pouch. I walked back over to the other two, only to have Sakura hand me the last antidote.

"She wants you to have it. She said there is still something she has to do…" She said to me, on the verge of tears. I nodded, grabbing it and stabbing it into my thigh. I knew Chiyo wasn't going to live past the next day, but it still didn't make taking this any better.

We gathered ourselves quickly, taking off to join the others. Sakura helped Chiyo, while I tried to apply minor healing to myself to slow the spread of the poison. It was rather painful, to be quite honest. I admire Kankuro for being able to fight without an antidote.

It only took us just about five minutes to catch up with the other three. Sasuke was quick to my side, looking me over and supporting me. I thanked him before we moved onto more pressing matters.

"What of Gaara?" Chiyo questioned the boys. Kakashi pointed up to Naruto's clones, which were holding the boy. She nodded, "All right."

"Well done, Neji!" We heard from a little bit away. The fight between team Gai and Deidara quickly ensued, and eventually Deidara used a clone of himself as a bomb, attempting to blow us up with it. Kakashi was quick to use his sharingan to swallow up the explosion, saving us from further harm. I pushed Sasuke towards him as he collapsed. Sasuke quickly helped him sit up, and I laughed at Kakashi.

"Thanks, Kakashi-senpai. But try not to use your sharingan so much in the future." I said to him. He waved me off with a small smile. "How is everyone else doing?" He asked the rest of the group. Naruto's clones jumped down with Gaara's body, "Sakura-chan…"

….

We moved out to a field, and they laid Gaara's body out for Sakura to check it over. She shook her head, not being able to speak. Chiyo walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. Sakura nodded, tears now in her eyes.

"Chiyo-baachan, are you…" I started. She looked over to me with a smile, then activated the life transference jutsu. My heart clenched, and I sat down beside her. I wavered one hand over hers and started to give my chakra to help her.

"What the hell are you guys doing?!" Naruto shouted at us. I gave him a glare, shutting him up. "Chiyo's bringing Gaara back, and Suchiru's helping." Sakura explained to him. As we went on, our chakra started to dwindle down, and we wouldn't have enough to finish it. Naruto was quick to offer his own, replacing me. I sat back, watching as they went on. It wasn't long before it was finished, and as Chiyo fell back, Gaara started to stir.

"Gaara…" Naruto spoke as he helped him up. He looked at Naruto, then looked around, seeing the people who came out to help him. His eyes were wide; unbelieving. Everyone stood around, saying how proud of him they were, and happy that he was back. I glanced over to Chiyo, seeing her finally be at peace.

…

We stood in front of Chiyo's grave, and I laid my hand on top of it. _'Thank you… Chiyo-baachan.'_ I walked back over with the group and threw my hand over Sasuke's shoulders.

"You get to help me back, trouble." I said, getting a glare in return. The three sand siblings stood at the entrance of the village, seeing us off. Gaara held his hand out for Naruto, who took it gratefully. I removed my arm from Sasuke and walked over once they were finished, standing in front of the boy.

"You need anything, give me a holler." I told him before bringing him into a hug. "From one Kazekage descendant to another." I pulled back, seeing the look on his face. He wore a shocked expression, but recovered quickly. He smiled at me, "Of course." We both nodded to each other before I walked back to my human crutch. We all waved to each other, saying our goodbyes before we finally set off.

…

When we arrived back to Konoha, I was immediately entered into the hospital. 'Chakra exhaustion' and 'fatal wounds' and 'you need the antidote still' was what they said. I told them I was fine, yet I was shoved through the doors before I could argue more. The nice thing was that I had been roomed with Kakashi, so at least I still had someone to talk to.

"So, what did Sasori say?" Kakashi asked me. I looked up from eating my orange, questioning look on my face. "Sakura said that you told her something about one of his subordinates." I stared at him for a moment, trying to remember what the hell I said to her. He raised his eyebrows, trying to get me to talk.

"Oh! Shit, yeah. The Tenchi Bridge, six days from now. He was supposed to meet one of his lackeys. Not sure what it's about though." I told him truthfully. I remember them going to meet Kabuto, but I couldn't remember what they were actually meeting him there for. He nodded.

"So we'll have to send someone in." He said. The door opened to our room, revealing Tsunade.

"How are the two of you?" She asked. "Well." The two of us responded. She nodded, walking over to the window.

"I have filled your team back up to full strength." She told Kakashi. "I have Yamato, an anbu operative, filling in for you." He nodded.

"As for Sasuke… He requested to be taken off the team." I choked on my water, looking over to her. "What do you mean he requested to be taken off?!" She sighed, and looked out over the village.

"He wants to be moved into anbu. Like you." She clarified. "You mean like Itachi?" I asked. She closed her eyes, letting out another sigh. "Yes."

"Then who is replacing him?" Kakashi inquired.

"A boy named Sai. He is-"

"He's from root." I finished. "Danzo picked him out, didn't he? You know he has some ulterior motive. There's no doubt about it." I tried. She shook her head. "I know you have a bad past with him-"

"A bad past?!" I yelled. "That doesn't even begin to touch it! He tried to kill me! And take Shisui's eyes!" Kakashi looked over at me, shock in his eyes. I got up out of my bed, stumbling a bit. "There is no way that I'm letting him infiltrate this team, Tsunade-sama. Not while I'm still alive!" She walked over to me, grabbing me by my collar.

"It's not your decision, Suchiru! Sit back down!" She let me go, and I scoffed. "No. I'm not staying here." I said as I gathered my things, violently shoving them into my bag.

"You're not allowed to leave the hospital, Suchiru! You can barely walk straight! The antidote is still working its rounds, and while it does, you are to remain in this bed until _I_ say you can leave." She said forcefully, taking my bag from me. I glared at her, but she wasn't fazed. I sat back down in the bed, ripping the covers up to my chin and shoved my face into the pillow.

"I take it now is a bad time to be coming in?" A voice said from the door.

"Jiraiya, Yamato. Good to have you finally here." Tsunade said to them. I peered out from my covers, seeing the two men. They walked over to the three of us, talking about Naruto's advancement as a Jinjuriki.

"In all likelihood, judging from experience, the tails grow rapidly the angrier he gets. And in the end…" Jiraiya explained. "There will be nine." Kakashi finished.

"But doesn't the appearance of Naruto change with the number of tails as well?" I asked. Jiraiya nodded. "Yes, but I've only seen up to four tails." He said, showing the scars on his chest. "After that, it's an unknown."

"Even with the Yondaime's seal it went that far?" Kakashi questioned. Jiraiya nodded, putting his shirts back on. "Yes. Which leads me to believe that the seal itself is weakening. And that brings us to another problem. The chakra that surrounds him while he's like this, it continually damages him. By the time the fourth tail had come, he was completely covered in his own blood. With the way that it damages him, but _heals_ him too, it will shorten his lifespan."

"That's why we need you, Yamato." Tsunade said. "With the cells of the first Hokage, you can control the Kyuubi."

"And," Jiraiya went on. "Luck would have it that the shodai's necklace is already hanging around his neck. We're counting on you."

They left soon after, leaving Kakashi and I to ourselves. I looked over to him, but he seemed to be deep in thought.

"Kakashi-senpai?" I asked him. He moved his eyes to me. "In theory, couldn't anyone with the sharingan control the Kyuubi as well?"

" _In theory_ , yes. But we don't have enough information to go on. The only time anyone has taken control of the Kyuubi with the sharingan was Fugaku, but the beast was already loose." I thought for a moment. I wondered if it _was_ possible to control Naruto with the sharingan. If so, then maybe it would be better for Sasuke to stay on their team. This mission they were on, to the Tenchi Bridge… It was supposed to be for finding out where Sasuke went, originally. Why else was it important?

' _The files!'_

"Kakashi! I know why Sai was sent!" He looked over to me, half amused. "He was carrying a folder! With files!" He raised an eyebrow. "What kind of files are we talking about?"

"Every anbu member that had ever serviced in Konoha! Danzo wants to set up an alliance with Orochimaru, to destroy the village!" I said to him, waving my hands around for emphasis. He just looked at me, straight-faced.

"Okay, Suchiru? I know what happened with Danzo has kind of traumatized you, and quite frankly I fear for your mental health, but I don't think he is going to conspire against the village with Orochimaru. No matter how much of a scumbag he is." I gaped at him. How could he not expect Danzo to do that? I held my head in my hands, groaning.

I may have to deal with him on my own…

….

Three days passed. Team Kakashi finally came back, updating us on their mission. Sai ended up turning tides, now one of our allies. But not all of it was good news.

"Orochimaru talked about Sasuke. He still wants him." Naruto told Kakashi and I. I crossed my arms, still peeved. "And you, Sai." I said, pointing to the boy in question. "Those files. Did Orochimaru and Kabuto get them?" His eyes lowered to the floor, and I knew it.

"Fuck, this is bad." I muttered to myself. "What files are we talking about here?" Yamato asked.

"These files contained every anbu's profile. Every person to serve Konoha. He now has detailed information about you, me, Kakashi-senpai… Everyone who served in anbu." I explained. "All because of that damned Danzo."

"You were telling the truth…" Kakashi said. "Of course I was! I wouldn't lie about something as important as this!" I told him, anger laced heavily in my voice.

"So what can we do about it?" Sakura asked. "Tch. Nothing now. We'd have to kill the bastard."

I got up from my bed, having enough of this talk. I packed my things up, already being dressed in my capri pants and sleeveless turtleneck.

"I'm leaving now. Tell Tsunade-sama she can kiss my ass if she doesn't like it." I told the others. I opened the door, slamming it shut behind me. I shouldered my bag and left the hospital quickly, heading straight for the Uchiha compound. _'I may have to deal with Danzo sooner than originally planned.'_ I thought to myself, wondering how I could do so. The Izanagi was going to be a hard thing to work around.

I entered through the gates of the compound, heading for the main household. I reached the house quickly, slamming the door as I came through. I walked through to the kitchen, seeing Itachi and Sasuke sitting at the table talking.

"Suchiru, you're back. How are you faring? Sasuke told me about your injuries." I sat down slamming my hands on the table. "We have a _big fuckin' problem._ " I said to him, ignoring what he said.

"And before you can warn me about my language," I quickly said, seeing as he was about to open his mouth, "Orochimaru has every anbu's file thanks to the little ass that Danzo put on the new 'team Kakashi'." His eyes widened with shock, but he quickly recovered.

"When was the last time the files were updated?" He asked. I shrugged my shoulders. "Whenever you last met with them, probably. So for me it's been like, three years? Maybe a bit more?" He nodded, and held up one finger. _'So it's been one year for him.'_

"Oh, another thing," Itachi said, getting up and reaching for a couple of papers. "This was given to me by Tsunade-sama. She said it was for you." I took the papers from his hand, giving them a quick look over.

' _The Nibi has been captured by the Akatsuki.'_ Was the first line I read. I laid them down gently, resting my head in one hand while shuffling through the papers with another. _'There were strange symbols written on the ground and walls, unsure of what to make of them.'_ So Hidan and Kakuzu have made their move already. Why did everything have to move so quickly now? I took the papers and shoved them into my bag, attempting not to crinkle them.

"What did they say?" Sasuke asked me, being nosey. I sighed, "The Akatsuki. Sasuke, remember when we were training, and I told you how I was tasked with watching them?" He nodded. "Well, the trailing missions we did while we were out, we were tailing them. And of course; as soon as we're back, they make another move. They got Nibi." I told them. They both nodded, somewhat grim looks on their faces.

"So what can we do?" Sasuke asked. "Well, we have to wait for them to make another move. I know who did the killing in this instance, so we need to go around to different bounty drop off points in the surrounding area, and see if they came through. It's possible that they may go for Naruto next." I explained. He got up and stretched himself out.

"Well, we better get going then." He said to me. I just looked up at him, completely straight-faced.

"Uh, no. We don't. I want to wait for more reports to come in. Maybe the Cloud will send one over, and they may have more information they we do. We wait for now." I told him, much to his disappointment.

"Anywho!" I said, getting up from my spot. "I'm gonna stop in at the Hokage's office before I head home. Now that I have these files I need to talk to her about them." Itachi nodded and Sasuke lazily waved to me. I made my way out of the house and started back to the tower.

When I arrived, I quickly made my way up to Tsunade's office, knocking on the door. 'Come in' was heard from the other side, and I opened the door. She was sitting there, her arms crossed and a not to impressed look on her face.

"I take you got the papers I sent home with Itachi?" She asked, and I nodded. "I did. That's why I'm here. I know the two who did it." She sat up straight, and I now had her full attention.

"The symbols they talk about," I said, pulling the papers out and pointing to the picture, "it's part of a cult. Not a lot of people know about it. They practice immortality. This god, 'Jashin', is not a nice one. It's all about destruction and death." She nodded along as I explained.

"Hidan, the one who practices it, technically _is_ immortal. As long as he keeps killing, that is. This religion works in ways I can't explain. Like, the way he keeps his immortality and how it actually works, is a complete mystery to me. _But_ I do know how he kills. He needs to be in this sort of pentagram, and he needs to ingest the blood of his target to kill them. While he stands in it, any wound he inflicts on himself, will appear on his target." Halfway through my explanation, her eyebrow rose, trying to make sense of any of it.

"And what about his partner? They work in pairs, do they not?" She asked. I nodded.

"Yes. His partner… His name is Kakuzu. We already have data on him." She shook her head. "But not as much as I'd like to have." I looked down, trying to come up with something to say.

"Do you hold some sort of sympathy for this Akatsuki member…?" She asked in an accusing tone. I shook my head.

"No it's… I knew him. He was the one who escorted me here during the Third war. It's just weird to talk about him." She sat back in her seat, closing her eyes and letting out a sigh.

"You know any amount of information would work, right? Did you see anything during your time together? Anything that could help?" I fumbled with my hands, wondering what I should tell her.

"He had… this sort of beast, come out of him. It was made of threads, or something similar. It was big, and it wasn't human, that's all I really know about it." I said, electing out of telling her most of what I knew. In my gut, I knew it was wrong to withhold information, but I felt like I couldn't sell him out like this. Even if he was a part of a criminal organization.

"I'm just wondering," she started, "how you know so much about his partner but not him." I said nothing. "You know, holding back information like this is will get you sent over to T and I. And it could get people killed." I shook my head before getting up.

"I told you what I know, which is a lot more than anybody else came here with." I said as I walked through the door. I didn't look back to her, knowing that now I would probably be under watch. I just felt like, for whatever reason, I couldn't give up what I knew about Kakuzu. Of course, I realized that I would get in trouble for doing it, but I didn't care at this moment. I heard quick footsteps approach behind me, and someone grabbed my shoulder.

"You need to get to the hospital. Now." Shizune said frantically. I gave her a questioning look before she began to drag me off.

"What's going on?" I asked her as we ran. "I don't know how, but Shisui is in intensive care right now. He wasn't even on a mission, either." I panicked, boosting myself to get there faster. How the hell did he wind up in the hospital? And in intensive care? We ran through the front doors and Shizune quickly detoured me to the ER, bringing me into his room.

I stopped in the doorway, looking over at the bed. Wires and tubes were hooked up to him, while two medics worked on healing his wounds. My heart stopped when I looked to his face. There were large gashes just above his eyes, which would be sure to leave scars. I fell to my knees, holding my head in my hands and started to cry. Shizune came back to my side, comforting me.

"He's awake, you know. C'mon." She helped me up and I wiped my eyes while she walked me over. His right eye was swollen shut, but he still looked over to me.

"Damn, you had to come back to see me like this, didn't you?" He spoke, a slight smirk and his voice raspy. I couldn't even speak, seeing him like this.

"What the hell happened…?" I asked quietly, looking at his face. The look he gave me confirmed what I already thought. "It was him, wasn't it?" I asked again. He nodded.

"There were so many of them."

…..

I didn't leave his side the rest of the time they were healing him. I held his hand through all of it, silently wishing I could take his place. We didn't talk again until we were the only ones in the room.

"So it was Danzo." I said as soon as the last doctor left. He nodded.

"It was like he sent every root member after me. I almost didn't get away." I looked up to him sadly, resting my hand on his. "How did you…?"

"I had to use Kotoamatsukami on them." He said, "Now I only have to wait another ten years before I can use it again."

"I wish I knew. I really did. I would have come back sooner." I told him, but in truth, what could I have done? He just smiled, lifting a hand to my cheek.

"It would have been nice, but it wouldn't have made any difference. They would have hurt you just as bad. And I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that happened." I leaned into his hand, letting a few tears slip. He wiped them away with his thumb, smiling at me.

A knock came on the door, and I got up to get it. I opened the door to see Shizune, who had a worried look on her face.

"There's been a hit. Chiriku, from the Fire temple. He's been killed." I clenched my fist hard, my knuckles turning white under the pressure. "They are getting the platoons ready." She finished. I nodded, "Let me know if his bounty has been cashed in, okay?" I asked her. She agreed and left, leaving me to go back to Shisui.

"Even Chiriku has been taken..? They aren't playing nicely." He said to me. I shook my head at him.

"Of course they aren't. They _are_ Akatsuki."

…..

A day passed before we heard anything else about the Akatsuki pair. I sat by Shisui's side, peeling different fruits for him when an anbu member walked into the room.

"Suchiru." He started. "A bounty has been passed in. And… Asuma Sarutobi has been killed in action." The apple that was in my hand was crushed, the juice running down my arms. I looked back to Shisui, sharingan activated. "I'll be back in a bit." I told him.

Before he could respond I was out of the door with the anbu as he told me everything he knew about the situation. After he told me, I made my way to my apartment, grabbing all my own anbu gear and setting out. I knew that they were extracting the Nibi right now, conveniently being called away from the fight with Shikamaru's team by their leader. All I had to do was find my way to the collections office, then head north from there. Shouldn't be too hard…

….

"I'm not telling you jack shit about the two who came through here!" The man from the bounty station yelled at me.

"I don't want to know about their fucking personality or zodiac signs; I want to know what way they went!" I shouted back, grabbing his collar. He only glared back at me, grabbing my hand and shoving it off of him. "No means no, bitch. Get offa' me." I sighed, annoyed with the man.

"I've never done this before, so this should be fun." I said to the now confused man, looking in his eyes with my sharingan. His body went stiff, and then dropped to the ground. I jumped back, then slouched my shoulders. "Oops, probably went a bit _too_ ham…" I quietly said to myself. I routed around in his pockets, finding nothing helpful. I sighed, making my way out of the office and out to the front of the bathrooms. I looked around the area, seeing the blood and burn marks of the battle that took place here. I turned my eyes to where two small scorch marks were.

This must have been where they jumped from. I took out my compass and got the correct direction, then started north. The area quickly began to get crowded with trees, and harder to navigate. I paused on a branch, looking for any chakra signatures near me. There were two of them, about a kilometre out from my position, and I started towards them.

I stopped a bit away from the two, confirming that it was, in fact, Kakuzu and Hidan. They were focusing their chakra, probably for sealing the two tails. I jumped out of my tree and continued in on foot, knowing that they would hear me coming.

"Hidan…" I heard Kakuzu mumble. "I know." Was the response he got. I came to the tree line, holding my hands up, showing I wasn't a threat.

"And here I thought Kakuzu picked a fucking _great_ spot out." Hidan cursed. "Shut up Hidan. Take over for me." Kakuzu responded. He stood up to his full height; which I must say, is a tad intimidating. I kept my hands held up.

"I'm not here to kill you two." I said to them, trying to keep my cool. Kakuzu scoffed, looking me over. "And why would that be? Did we not just kill one of your top ranking shinobi?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"C'mon old man, trust me." I spoke, my anbu persona falling. He continued to stare me down. "I'm here to warn you." I tried again.

"Warn us of what?" I sighed, taking my mask off.

"That if go into this battle with the Kyuubi host, you _will_ die."

….

Oh sweet Kentucky fried chicken eating baby jesus. It's a miracle. I've done it. Another chapter in less than a week.

Also, a question was raised. Yes, she still is training with her kekkei genkai. During that 3 year gap, she worked extensively on it, in preparation of the battle with Sasori.

Bonus: this chapter's soundtrack includes only one song; If you by Skrux.

Also, thanks for all the reviews and favourites. It really means a lot to me, considering I never thought I would get this far.


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